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Never thought it might end like this...

Lawdog314

Active Member
Almost bought the proverbial farm yesterday. Was clearing my driveway after the storm. I have, had, a Kubota, L3200, with a 7' loader and a ballast box on the back that had to be another 600 plus pounds. All in, I put it's weight at well north of a ton. Anyway, was lined up to push tt he snow bank back at the end of my driveway, totally off the road. I look up and see headlights, then the side of a pickup maybe 10 feet from me.

I had just enough time to think, "this is gonna hurt." The truck hit my loader, spun the tractor 180 degrees and pushed me back 30 feet. Somehow I hung on for the whole ride. After everything stopped spinning, I jumped off the tractor and ran to the truck to see if the occupants were alright. The driver staggered out of the truck and I asked if he was hurt. He babbled something to the effect he was. That is when I smelt it. BOOZE and a lot of it.

Anyone who has glanced at my profile knows I am a Maine State Trooper. I asked him how much he had to drink today. He said, "a few". My wife came running out of the house. She had heard what she thought was me slamming the loader onto the driveway and wanted to know what the devil I was doing. I told her to call dispatch and tell them what happened and our road was shut down.

My loader had made contact with the truck on the passenger side. It had dug in just past the extended cab, pretty much tore the bed off the frame. The impact was so great it ripped the drive shaft off the truck, and pulled the rear axle from its mounts. (sorry ain't a mechanic but I think it conveys the idea)

While waiting for the Trooper to arrive, the operator kept asking to get into the truck to find his cell phone. Nope, ain't gonna happen. I don't know at this point if there's a gun or weapon in the car, or he was going to try to destroy evidence... After about the third time he demanded to get back in the truck, I told him I was a Trooper and I was placing him under arrest for drunk driving, (we call it OUI, Operating Under the Influence). Numerous people stopped and two gentleman stayed that had witnessed the "accident". I could feel my patience slipping and knew if I stayed near this guy, I was probably gonna beat the booze right out of him. One of the guys was a rather large, lumber jack looking fella. I asked if he would keep an eye on the driver because I needed some space away from him. He smiled and said "no problem Trooper, I can't believe you maintained as well as you have." Thank God for good people.

When the Trooper arrived, I briefed him on what happened, told him I had arrested the operator, but was now turning his custody and the investigation over to him and he was to consider me nothing but John Q. Public. After interviewing the witnesses, tire tracks that clearly showed I was basically in my front yard when Boozer hit me, he took custody of him. Field Sobriety Tests didn't go well for Boozer.

After the wreckers cleared the truck and I backed my beloved Kubota back into the driveway, I did a very slow strip-tease for the wife. My right knee had swollen like a pumpkin and my back was starting to scream. She wanted me to go get checked out, but I wasn't having it. So, like the great wife she is, she called my boss who shall we say, made the decision a little easier for me...

A full range of x-rays or cats or whatever they call it, nothing was missing or realigned. Doc said I was gonna be a hurting puppy tomorrow. He was right about that! Prescribed some pain-killers and muscle relaxers, shredded both as soon as I got home.

First thing this morning, I gimped my way out to look at the Kubota. My loader, with less than 20 hours operation, was bent at least six inches off center, bucket bent, and the tractor itself appeared to have a good three inch list to the right. Tractor dealer I bought it from flat-bedded the whole rig outta here this morning. The guy said the loader was totaled but they wouldn't know the condition of the tractor itself until they separated it from the loader.

I forgot to mention, the driver blew a .14% Blood Alcohol Content. I arrest these fools every day, but this really drove home just how crazy dangerous drunk drivers are. I always knew it, but seeing your life flash before your eyes, drives it home.

I am still doing an adrenalin dump even though it was almost exactly 24 hours ago. If you read this far, thank you. Writing it helps me put it in perspective. I'm very lucky.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year. PLEASE be careful, this world is dangerous place.
joe
 
wow Joe, that is quite the story. sorry to hear you had to go though that, main thing is you will heal quickly and the other guy will be shaking his head for a while trying to figure why he did what he did. glad to hear you kept your cool many people wouldn't have
 
Glad that you made it out in one piece. I have never understood drunk driving. Heck, if you want to go out and have a few, go ahead. If you decide that you want to have even more, no problem, just don't drive. Funny, we hear the press howl over and over about gun violence, but they never point out that there are more people killed each year from drunk drivers than guns....
 
Glad you're okay! Don't let your ego hide your injuries, they always come back to bite you. Take care riding season is right around the corner for you!
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Glad you are ok and thanks for sharing.It reminds all of us to be extra vigilante,not only during the holiday season but always.
 
Glad to hear that you weren't seriously hurt or killed Lawdog!

There are many things that are seriously wrong with this world and drunk driving is definitely one of them. Funny, I can't think of one person that I know that hasn't taken their chances with their own and someone elses life at least once by getting behind the wheel when they were impaired, sadly, including myself! (I am ashamed to admit it now). Every bar in the country that's open for business right now has cars in the parking lot that will be driven by people who will be taking that chance. Personally, I lost all interest in alcohol, among other things, decades ago.

Texting while driving is just about as bad! Not 1 hour ago I'm driving down the road in my neighborhood with my 10 year old daughter and some bonehead crosses the yellow line right in front of me,(oncoming), and I could see that the woman was looking down at her phone! It was close enough to give me that funny feeling in my stomach!

Unfortunately, society as a whole doesn't care enough about drunk driving. It's only when it becomes personal that the gloves come off. Is it human nature to only care about the lives of others to the same extent that we care about our own lives or what?

Once again, I'm really glad you came out of it apparently ok.
 
good to hear that your injuries were not more serious career ending. Did the idiot at least have insurance ?
 
Glad your injuries weren't worse. Hope by the end of the week your body is healed up and nothing else shows up as a deeper injury.
 
..... Did the idiot at least have insurance ?


Actually,that's a very good point!

Here where i live,if a driver has an accident whilst under the influence,or driving unlicensed,or off their tree with'substances' or whatever,their insurance(if they have any) is null and void.

This means that the driver, personally, becomes liable for any damages.


If theTractor is comprehensively insured then your insurance company should fix it up ,then chase Mr Boozehound for the costs.If it's not insured,i guess that would mean you would have to take legal action against the driver to recover costs.-For an incident where you are an innocent bystander and participant!The person who coined the phrase "Life's not fair!" was spot on.


It is good to hear that you are relatively OK;it sounds like you are lucky to have got off so "lightly" with so little serious injury.
I don't mean to sound flippant,but considering the overall damage to some heavy-duty equipment,you so easily could have been killed.
 
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