Accused Drunken Driver Ends Up Running Over Self

Of course, headlines like this will grab anyone's attention. After all, how many people can successfully run over themselves?

The thing I find so sad about this story is what they do NOT say: the guilty man's blood alcohol concentration. When I worked for the Missouri Division of Hwy. Safety, a commonly held belief is that the average DWI perp has driven under the influence over 100 times before he's caught for the first time. To evade officers, narrowly miss other cars in the pursuit, run through a ditch, etc. doesn't show it was this guy's first time to drive under the influence. And the really, REALLY sad thing is? He's 21. Barely old enough to legally consume alcohol, but he's already adept at DWI and running from police officers.

Thankfully, it mentions no injuries. The suspect is now in jail, not the hospital, so maybe we can infer his luck didn't really run out.

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By AP
Posted: 2008-11-26 10:15:00
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- A man is in a northern New Mexico jail, accused of driving drunk and leading police on a chase that finally ended with him running over himself.

Roy Travis Aguilar, 21, was treated for minor injuries at a Santa Fe hospital and booked into the Sandoval County detention center on charges of aggravated driving while intoxicated, fleeing a police officer, careless driving and two other outstanding traffic warrants.

A tip on a police hot line Sunday afternoon reported a possible drunken driver on a highway.State Police Officer Grace Romero spotted Aguilar's pickup truck swerving across both lanes of the highway, driving slowly and then fast. He refused to stop.After narrowly missing other vehicles, police said Aguilar drove through a ditch and a barbed-wire fence before stopping. He tried to put the truck into park, but it ended up in reverse.

Police said Aguilar fell from his open door and both of his legs were run over by the front driver's side tire.

Concordia University-Chicago

On Tuesday, Nov. 18, I was honored to present a program at Concordia University in Chicago! Student athletes and others gathered in the K.C.C. for a program to inspire students to make intelligent choices... and from all the Facebook sign ups and messages I've received, we got 'er done!

Special thanks to Kathy Gebhardt and Pete Gnan for hosting me at Concordia! It's been several years since I've worked in Chicago and it was awesome to be there with such a great group of Concordia folks!

Bacchus in Columbus!

Sorry for the lack of postings the last week or so. I've been on the road a lot and now, here's why!

Thursday, Fri. and Sat. of last week, I was exhibiting and presenting at the Bacchus Network General Assembly held in Columbus, OH. This is the third year I've attended G.A. and I'm always so excited to get to meet new friends and see past acquaintances!

This year, I was also excited to present with the PACE team from DeSales University on "Booze Busters." To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a university has partnered with a professional speaker to present a breakout session at G.A. I want to thank the PACE team for welcoming me in with open arms and congratulations on a job well done! Special thanks to Dr. Gregg Amore and Wendy Krisak for helping facilitate everything...and for one of the funnest times I've ever had at a conference dinner!

Side note: Friday night at G.A., there was a fire in a neighboring building. A big, stinky electrical fire. This fire caused the power grid to be switched off and hence, our hotel to be without power for nearly 12 hours. And yet? Hanging out on the street corner with the DeSales PACE team was just super fun! No one I'd rather be homeless with! And thanks to the Columbus Hyatt for handling the disaster in such a professional manner-truly one of the finer examples of customer service I've ever experienced!

DUIfoundation.org

I just learned of a great resource with whom I share a mission: www.DUIfoundation.org

From their site, DUIfoundation.org stresses the human repercussions of impaired driving; that a single mistake can have devastating affects on not only the driver, but his/her passengers and other motorists.

But we all know this stuff, right? Everyone knows impaired driving is wrong and shouldn't be done, right? Sure! We all know this...but there are still approximately 15, 000 individuals killed every year due to intoxicated driving.

www.DUIfoundation.org is yet another resource in the fight to reduce (and hopefully eliminate) this dangerous and senseless crime. From legislation to law enforcement to support groups to resources for those with substance abuse issues, DUIfoundation.org is a web site I'll be visiting frequently. I hope you will, too.

CSU - Fullerton

Thanks to Nick Katz at Cal State-Fullerton for inviting me in to work with the new Greeks and athletes on Nov. 5. Still in post-election afterglow, the CSU-Fullerton program was a great time!
Special thanks to Jenny, Emma the photographer (and all around cool gal), Emel, Matt and Sarah for being such awesome hosts… not to mention hooking me up with the CA fav, In and Out.

Thanks to all CSU-Fullerton students who’ve signed up to be friends on Facebook and MySpace, too!

Cal State San Marcos

Thursday, Nov. 6 found me at Cal State-San Marcos to work with the students there! And what a fun group to work with! Special thanks to Julie Mattingly for being such an awesome client AND awesome person, Erika and Jenny for helping coordinate everything for my visit! Thanks also to Kathy, the health educator, at CSU-SM for helping drum up interest and for co-sponsorship for the event. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of students and I’m so glad that, even voluntary attendance got the auditorium filled!

Side note: If you’ve never been to San Marcos, leave your wing tips and cufflinks at home! San Marcos is this cool little beach town-ish place that has such a fun and laid back vibe! Was really cool to soak it up for a while!

And to Julie, Erika and Jenny… thanks for helping me haul my stuff all over campus all day…y’all can be my Sherpas any time!

University of Central Florida

I will travel anywhere, at any time to do keynotes for anyone who requests them.It is nice, however, to also be able to sleep in my own bed! Although I've given four collegiate programs at the University of Central Florida, both nights I was able to come home, put my feet up on my own coffee table while relaxing on my own couch. Reason being, UCF is about 10 minutes from my front door!

What makes this an even more unique group of programs is my UCF client, Marcus Sedberry. In addition to being the first other Marcus I've ever had as a client, Marcus is also an incredibly nice, determined individual who is committed to the overall health and development of student athletes. His commitment simply shines through his work and I was so pleased to work with him!

Additionally, Marcus' assistant, Ashley, is a grad student who made my time around UCF even more fun and memorable!

Besides the student athlete programs (which were sponsored through the CHAMPS/Life Skills portion of the NCAA), I also had an opportunity to meet with Greek Life from UCF. The Tuesday afternoon luncheon with fraternity and sorority members, not to mention a great group of nursing students, helped kick off the tour de la UCF! Thanks to Lindi Smedberg and Ashley (not the same Ashley as from athletics) for helping make this so meaningful for all those who participated!I'd also like to thank Brennen, Sam and Jenny from the Student Athlete Council for an awesome dinner last night! It was so cool to hear that, in addition to keeping stellar GPAs and a tough practice schedule, just how much community service student athletes do every semester! Truly admirable, you guys!

Again, thank you to everyone who made this time at my new adopted home university so incredible!

Loyola Marymount University

Ah, southern California! L.A. gets a bad rap... but if it's so terrible, why do so many people choose to live there?Well, yesterday, Oct. 22, I found out one of the reasons: Loyola Marymount University.I was brought to LMU by Dan Faill and the fraternity/sorority system for alcohol awareness week - and we had a blast! LMU is this gorgeous campus filled with highly motivated, friendly and quality students.

Just a couple miles from the beach and Marina del Ray, LMU couldn't ask for a much nicer physical setting! And yet? The people are even more impressive!

Special thanks

to Dan Faill for inviting me to campus, but even more for allowing me to hang with the Greek Council: Liz, Maddie, Kelsey and Tony. All four of these students are just plain fun!Thanks to Kelsey and Tony for helping me get around L.A. and just for such great conversations! Looking forward to a return trip to LMU sometime in the future! Thanks again!

EWU Eastern Washington University

All right, so there ain't too much that beats getting to be in the Pacific Northwest during the fall! Living in Florida, it was so, so cool (literally) to step out in the morning, feel the chill come on, then ward it off with some strong coffee! Well, nothing beats that... except for getting to hang with my peeps at Eastern Washington University!

I first spoke at EWU back in 2006 for freshman orientation, so I'd already fallen in love with the greater Spokane region. But throw in some great times with Michelle Pingree, Jane Davis, Laurie, Laurel, Kaley, Marie, Tawney, James Wagner and Mike Miller and, well, it just was such a blast! Thank all of you for giving me such a great time! Whether it was having big gnarly biscuits at the Rusty Moose with Michelle, endlessly quoting "Super Bad" and "Stepbrothers" with Tawney and Marie and Kelly, talking fraternity/sorority philosophy with James Wagner or sharing time with the EWU athletes – this can all be summed up in two words: Good Times!

BTW... special thanks to Michelle P. for the gift for Marvelyne that she hasn't yet received (it's still buried in my suitcase, but she'll have it soon!)

West Hills College...Again!

As promised, now that I'm back home, I can download the pics from all my recent travels. And, as promised, here's Sylvia Dorsey Robinson and moi at West Hills College from the Oct. 16 program.Thanks again, Sylvia, for such an amazing experience, for introducing me to so many quality people and for giving me a fabulous first experience in Lamoore!

Additional thanks to Dean Jose Lopez, Leo Orange, Keith Brock and all the awesome students and staff at West Hills College! Oh, and thanks for introducing me to that Mexican soda... Juaretta? (I forget the name now, but it was yummy!)

West Hills College

On Thursday, Oct. 16, I was a guest on campus at West Hills College in Lemoore, California. Officially, I was invited to West Hills College to help recognize Disability Awareness Week, but I think we went above and beyond!Special thanks to Dean Sylvia Dorsey Robinson, Dean Jose Lopez, Leo Orange, Keith Brock and everyone else who made this day so unforgettable! I was truly honored (not to mention happy!) to spend the day with you guys and get to know the West Hills community!

Pictures will be coming when I get back home and can download them from the camera!