Author Spotlight
Sydney Newton
*names changed to protect identity
Then-junior Vinnie Evans* grabbed a handle of Tito’s vodka from his parents’ liquor cabinet and took his keys off the hook on the wall before leaving to grab slushies with a friend. Sitting in the back of the dark Sonic parking lot, Evans downed eight shot-sized swigs of vodka during his weekly Friday-night pregame — all in the span of 15 minutes.
I’m fine, he thought, hand shaking as he turned on the ignition. It’s fine.
As he placed his hand on the gear shift, Evans recalled warnings from friends and parents not to drink and drive, but they only fueled him even more — he’d convinced himself he was able to do it. So inhaling sharply, Evans pressed on the gas and blasted rap music to sober up, making the 15-minute drive to his friend’s house. This wasn’t his first time driving drunk, so he figured he could do it again.
It wasn’t until he arrived at the house that Evans realized he wasn’t fine. Never having consumed hard alcohol before, He felt like he’d been punched in the stomach the second he stumbled out of the car. Evans could barely stand — he feels lucky that he made it.
“It’s scary looking back at that night,” Evans said. “I felt invincible. [I] was at a point where I felt like the stuff that you see in the news couldn’t happen to me. I thought nothing bad could ever happen. It was like a power trip.”
Evans’s story isn’t far from the all-too-familiar stories of East students who chose not to find another ride and instead get home from house parties by driving under the influence. In a poll of 303 Instagram votes, 71% stated they had witnessed someone get behind the wheel after consuming some form of alcohol. The voters had seen those people lie about how much they drank, swerve in the lane, drive 10 or more miles an hour under the speed limit from paranoia and continually claim they were “fine.”
In Kansas, 1,046 people were killed in crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver from 2009-2018, as reported by the CDC. Nationally, in 2019, there were 10,142 drunk driving deaths and 24% of teen drivers killed in car crashes had a blood alcohol content of 0.01 or higher, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
While there were 568 less drunk-driving-related deaths in 2018 and low numbers of DUI cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of drunk drivers is rising again, according to DUI attorney Russell Powell. Now, students who have chosen to drink and drive are working to pay DUI fines, apologizing to their friends for putting them in danger or feeling thankful that they didn’t die. With Drunk Driving Prevention Month beginning Dec. 1, these students and other members of the community hope that their peers don’t make the same mistake of driving under the influence.
Now a senior, Evans knows that he never considered the consequences of driving drunk or felt that he was in danger that night — he truly thought he had it under control. However, after his friends had several interventions with him, even going so far as taking his keys at parties, he finally understands the ignorance of his actions and now encourages other students to not make the same mistake.
“I’ve put people in dangerous positions; I’ve put myself in dangerous positions,” Evans said. “I’m just lucky that nothing happened to me, but I absolutely should not have been doing that. It’s not worth it. There’s always, always a different way. You can always figure out a ride or something. [Driving yourself] should never be a last resort.”
Beyond a teen putting themselves and others in deadly situations, drunk driving has clear legal consequences. The Kansas DUI laws state that on the first conviction, someone charged with a DUI will receive 48 hours in prison, a fine between $500-$1,000 and a 30-day license suspension. On a second charge, the driver will receive 90 days to one year of imprisonment, a fine of $1,000 to $1,500 and a license suspension of one year. The third DUI charge results in a felony.
These charges apply when BAC levels are above 0.08, but for those under 21, the minimum BAC is 0.02, making it even more likely for those underage to be convicted, according to East officer Tony Woolen, who believes these charges are inevitable for those who choose to drive after drinking.
“If you get stopped by a law enforcement officer in Johnson County, the DUI laws are very clear,” Wollen said. “Everything’s recorded, and there’s no pushing away. You’re gonna get charged, you’re gonna get hit with fines, jail, you’re gonna pay a whole bunch of money and your testimony is gonna be that [you] made a horrible decision.”
According to Powell, who deals with around 100-150 DUI cases a year, the costs of these DUI charges are countless, with fees or fines for bail, towed vehicles, an attorney and the reinstatement of a driver’s license, among many more. These costs can quickly reach $10,000 — Powell’s slogan is even “Uber is cheap. Russell is not.”
Junior Dylan Johnson* saw these high costs when he received a DUI last year. After blacking out at a party, Johnson remembers only waking up in the hospital. Once he was discharged, Johnson’s license was revoked for 30 days and he was placed on diversion for 15 months, where he was required to take monthly drug and alcohol tests. The entire process cost over $10,000, which Johnson has paid for by working the past year and a half — and is just now paying it off.
“It feels like an endless climb out of a hole,” Johnson said. “I work all the time. And I still have school and stuff to worry about. It feels like there is no end to the amount of money that I owe. It still hangs over my head even though it’s supposed to be behind me now.”
As for senior Jackson Clark*, the first time he drove while drunk was sophomore year when he couldn’t find a ride home. It quickly turned into a habit, until Clark found himself drunk driving almost every weekend, becoming used to the feeling of getting home OK. It wasn’t until Johnson received his DUI that Clark realized he could be prevented from future jobs if he got pulled over, so he started taking Ubers home rather than driving. Looking back, Clark feels lucky that nothing life-ruining happened to him or the others in his car.
“It’s so unexpected what can happen at any time,” Clark said. “It could ruin my future. The consequences are just not worth it at all. You can get a $10 Uber instead of risking your life.”
Johnson believes the first step to putting a stop to drunk driving at East is educating students more thoroughly. Johnson doesn’t remember any information about DUIs during his Driver’s Education course, and had no knowledge of how immense the consequences were prior to his accident. He thinks having assemblies or informational sessions at East to teach students on the legal risks of alcohol-impaired driving would’ve benefited him — and will help prevent others from making the same mistake in the future.
Associate principal Susan Leonard agrees that education on the risks of drunk driving is important to combat the issue. Right now, the only DUI education that exists at East is in the Health elective that students are required to take for one semester, which most students take freshman year or online. In the past, topics like DUIs were covered in advisory, but with COVID-19, seminar and advisory isn’t used as effectively to help educate students, according to Leonard. Moving forward, Leonard hopes to have more education on drunk driving through assemblies, advisory or even during sports events to increase DUI awareness.
“The reality is young people have a sense of invincibility,” Leonard said. “And then you add alcohol to that, which affects your judgement. [DUIs] are something that we should continually talk about with kids and keep in the forefront of our minds.”
SRO Seth Meyer believes this education is important to show students that drunk driving can not only end your life, but also injure or end the lives of others, especially since drivers aged 16 to 20 are 17 times more likely to die in a crash with a BAC of above 0.08, according to the CDC.
Sophomore Caitlin Connelly was injured in an accident with a drunk driver when her mom was driving her and her twin sister home from a CrossFIT workout in 2016. Driving down State Line Road, a driver with a BAC level of 0.42 — over five times the legal limit — ran a stop sign, hitting the passenger side of the car. Connelly’s memory went black. The car rolled over three times and the next thing she remembers is waking up upside down.
Connelly was able to open her door and crawl out of the car as someone called an ambulance. Sitting on the curb, she watched her sister get wheeled out on a stretcher and her mom scream for help. All three were diagnosed with concussions. Connelly feels lucky to be alive — she was only 11.
Now 15, Connelly and her family still feel the effects of the crash — her mom experiences symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder every time other cars drive close to her car or make abrupt stops. Connelly’s seen first-hand how life-altering a car crash involving a drunk driver can be, so she pleads for people choosing to drive after consuming alcohol to think about how they could hurt others.
“My dad was obviously so scared,” Connelly said. “My brothers were obviously so scared. Everyone was so worried. No one should have to go through that. There’s truly no real reason that you should drink and drive. There’s always a sober person, like your neighbor or your parents or your friends, or Uber or Lyft. It just puts everyone at risk.”
As for Meyer, he thinks that students should think about the basic rights they lose when they get a DUI. After the first charges, those charged can receive a restricted license for up to a year, preventing them from driving any place other than work, school and religious establishments. In severe cases, people are required to have an ignition interlock device, which requires them to blow into a breathalyzer each time they want to drive their car. With several other options for rides home such as Uber and Lyft, Meyer hopes drivers think about the detrimental changes in your life a DUI will cause before getting behind the wheel drunk.
“[Getting a DUI] jeopardizes someone’s freedoms,” Meyer said. “I don’t know about you, but I like having the freedom to do what I want, to go out to eat or hang with friends or spend my money how I please. But once you start getting in trouble with things like this, it starts eating away at your freedoms, and it starts eating away at your pocketbook. So, all these things that you had hoped for and wished for and the things you want to do start to disappear really, really quickly.”
Powell also acknowledges that there are hard costs associated with DUIs, but thinks there are also hidden ones. Certain applications ask about criminal history, so students will be required to disclose a DUI charge, which can affect their chances of getting a job or into college — getting a DUI can legitimately change the trajectory of a student’s future.
“It happens fast,” Powell said. “You’re driving down the street with your friends, you feel fine, you’ve had a few drinks and think you’re OK and then you get stopped. It could be a minor violation, like not using your blinker or speeding. And then all of a sudden you find yourself in a DUI investigation. If you’re going to drink, pre-arrange a ride. It’s certainly not worth it.”
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