A drunk man was approached by police at an Austin gas station because they thought he might be driving drunk. The man took off in his car, drove the wrong way down a one way street and lost control of his car at a SXSW event and drove through the temporary barricades in place there and into a crowd of people. At this time it is believed he killed two people and injured at least twenty three. It all happened a little past midnight Austin time and is just awful for the families of the victims and the event and the city. This is one of those things that always scares me a little. Whenever crowds and barricades and streets all mix you always wonder whether some driver will take a wrong turn or forget to hit the brakes and in most cases you are talking to friends or looking away from what is happening and would have no time to get out of the way. Surrounded by people, even if you are aware and try and get out of the way, you might be blocked by people who are not quite as prepared. Throw into the mix that the driver was drunk and going fast and people in the crowd waiting for the show to begin might have been a little buzzed or tired or what have you and this was just a recipe for disaster. Hopefully there will be no further loss of life.
and once again some idiot ruins things.......
ReplyDeletedon't drink and drive y'all....
It doesn't matter if the people standing there innocently waiting outside ON THE SIDEWALK for the doors to open 'may have been buzzed'. He was running from the police, going the wrong way and plowed into and entire crowd.
ReplyDeleteIf you are going to demonize someone, go after the fuckhead who killed 2 people and injured 23. Not those injured and certainly not the 2 killed.
There was a news item last night that police pulled a car over because there was a 7 year old behind the wheel. Turns out, the kid was on his mother's lap and both mother and passenger were drunk.
ReplyDeleteDarwin's Law shouldn't be enacted on the innocent.
Is Britney Spears still driving with her kids in the car?? Thought daddy no no this.
DeleteOh dear God, please tell me this is not true. Where was this? (If you don't mind.)
DeleteIs Bieber still in Austin?
ReplyDeleteThey still haven't released the name of the driver FSP but isn't he driven places after being put in his his huggy high seat?
ReplyDeleteThis has been all over the news this morning and it's heartbreaking.
Buzzed or not, you are never prepared for some asshole to come the wrong way on a one way, speeding at close to 60 mph on a 30 or 35 mph street, jumping a barricade and LITERALLY plowing through people.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts are with all of the people and families affected by this. I'm am grateful that all of my loved ones are safe.
+1000
DeleteExactly disco, thank you!
ReplyDeleteIt was a blocked off street (tents, vendors). The last thing they expected even sober as the day is long would be some guy playing grand theft auto DUI version and hitting them as if they were worth points.
Such tragic news. Alcohol is 100 times the devil that pot will ever be.
ReplyDelete++1
DeleteJesus, I'm glad my sister decided to come home instead of staying in Austin for spring break, she is a huge festival goer and prob wools have been in the area. I love festivals but they scare me at the same time, for this exact reason. Hope the injured ate doing okay, my hear goes out to those who were killed.
ReplyDeleteThis is so scary. I've been calling colleagues all morning to make sure theirs safe and sound. So far so good. I had more than 20 people I work with regularly tell me they were 20 feet away from this. Man. So tragic.
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to those who lost a loved one or whose family member has been hurt.
ReplyDeleteDamn skippy no one expects a car plowing through the crowd be they on a blocked off street or on a park just off the road,
This asshole could have just pulled over and gotten a DUI. Now he's going to jail for manslaughter. What and idiot.
I hope he goes to jail for a lot more than that! He/she certainly deserves it.
DeleteI almost freaked out this morning as my niece lives in Austin and had posted a pix from SXSW last night! Thankfully, she had gone home early as she had a jewelry show to run today at Renegade. Horrible.
ReplyDeleteSherry, he's getting worse than manslaughter--he's already being charged with capital murder, which IIRC could potentially get him the death penalty. And all because he wasn't willing to just man up and pull over when the cops first went after him...
ReplyDeleteHugs to my fellow Central Texas Peeps!
ReplyDeleteGeez Enty ever been to any kind of street festival?! *douche*
Here is a link about the animal who did this.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/2-Dead-After-Driver-Hits-Them-At-Texas-Festival-250020171.html
Dumb fuck. Too bad he didn't just kill himself.
ReplyDeleteAt least the street had been partially cleared. The Austin police chief said that they were trying to clear a fire lane before this happened, that the street had been packed shortly before. They guy ran from a gas station near the highway, went through one barricade and then tried to run over a uniformed officer before driving into the crowd. Witnesses said they could hear him *gunning* the engine. He wasn't slowing down. He was speeding up. After he wrecked the car into a parking lot and bailed, I wish they were allowed to just shoot him.
ReplyDeleteThere are still three people in the hospital in critical condition. One with a traumatic brain injury, the likes of which the doctor said they will not survive.
It's really, really messed up.
Nobody really expects a driver to be on a road that is closed off for the public. This is what happened in Santa Monica, or similar, during a Farmer's Market. There is no excuse for driving drunk, and there was no excuse not to slam on your brakes and give up the second you saw people in the road. The driver will die in prison and maybe it will once again be an example that drinking and driving ruins everyone's life.
ReplyDeleteApparently this person is going to prison for a long, long time. Unless he is very wealthy, then he'll be diagnosed with "Affluenza" and get to work off a couple months of probation in a sunny clime. POS.
ReplyDeleteWell, @MadLyb, despite being a keen anti-death penalty type--if there's a little justice in the universe--my idea of an appropriate "sunny clime" for this guy will be somewhere in Florida.
ReplyDeleteThe driver population in my old home state is flush with alcoholics, wasted teens who never reach voting age, & elderly retirees who think it's "safer" to drive 20mph below the speed limits.
Anyway, it's quite possible that one night the drunken, car-wielding SXSW killer will either meet one of his peers, or find a road with a classic Floridian curve that has his name on it.