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.