Akfirebug
Drunk Driving Kills!
Park in the West Valley High School Parking Lot in Fairbanks Alaska, Hopefully that is sending a strong messages to our young drivers! Thanks to the family of Heather Dowdy who have the courage to make a difference!
On September 30, 2000 at 3:00 p.m., Kirk Jackson, driving with a blood alcohol content of at least .292, crossed over the centerline of the road and caused a head-on collision with seventeen-year-old Heather Dowdy. Troopers contacted Heather's mother, Barbara Dowdy, at 5:00 p.m. and informed her that Heather was in a serious accident. Barbara Dowdy went to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and waited in the chapel until she was informed by a doctor at 6:20 p.m. that her daughter had died. During the three and one-half hours, the doctors had performed a series of medical procedures on Heather, including intubating, ventilating, abdominal surgery, shaving her skull, drilling a hole in her skull, and using an electrical saw on her skull. Barbara Dowdy first saw and identified her daughter after she had died. In her affidavit she states:
I remember screaming and shouting and I lost all rationality. . . . I lost track of time and space. . . . I was in such a state of shock that I was unable to operate a telephone to call my daughter Jennifer to tell her of Heather's death. My hands were shaking so strongly that I could not operate the buttons on the phone. I was crying so hard that I could not see the buttons through my tears. I was so disoriented that I could not remember Jennifer's phone number of many years. After the phone call I could not remember how to get back to the room where Heather was. . . . I had to be physically supported in order to walk back to Heather's room. . . . I continue to have problems with my short term memory since seeing Heather in the hospital.
Heather's father, Asa Dowdy, learned of the accident at 8:00 p.m. and rushed to the hospital. He was told that Heather had died and then saw his daughter. He describes his emotional response in his affidavit:
I started to cry and I physically felt a painful change in my chest as if there was a hole in my heart. I continued to feel this physical pain in my chest for five or six weeks after seeing Heather in the hospital. When I saw . . . I felt a weakness in my body that forced me to sit down. I wept.
Drunk Driving Kills!
Park in the West Valley High School Parking Lot in Fairbanks Alaska, Hopefully that is sending a strong messages to our young drivers! Thanks to the family of Heather Dowdy who have the courage to make a difference!
On September 30, 2000 at 3:00 p.m., Kirk Jackson, driving with a blood alcohol content of at least .292, crossed over the centerline of the road and caused a head-on collision with seventeen-year-old Heather Dowdy. Troopers contacted Heather's mother, Barbara Dowdy, at 5:00 p.m. and informed her that Heather was in a serious accident. Barbara Dowdy went to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and waited in the chapel until she was informed by a doctor at 6:20 p.m. that her daughter had died. During the three and one-half hours, the doctors had performed a series of medical procedures on Heather, including intubating, ventilating, abdominal surgery, shaving her skull, drilling a hole in her skull, and using an electrical saw on her skull. Barbara Dowdy first saw and identified her daughter after she had died. In her affidavit she states:
I remember screaming and shouting and I lost all rationality. . . . I lost track of time and space. . . . I was in such a state of shock that I was unable to operate a telephone to call my daughter Jennifer to tell her of Heather's death. My hands were shaking so strongly that I could not operate the buttons on the phone. I was crying so hard that I could not see the buttons through my tears. I was so disoriented that I could not remember Jennifer's phone number of many years. After the phone call I could not remember how to get back to the room where Heather was. . . . I had to be physically supported in order to walk back to Heather's room. . . . I continue to have problems with my short term memory since seeing Heather in the hospital.
Heather's father, Asa Dowdy, learned of the accident at 8:00 p.m. and rushed to the hospital. He was told that Heather had died and then saw his daughter. He describes his emotional response in his affidavit:
I started to cry and I physically felt a painful change in my chest as if there was a hole in my heart. I continued to feel this physical pain in my chest for five or six weeks after seeing Heather in the hospital. When I saw . . . I felt a weakness in my body that forced me to sit down. I wept.