Boy paralyzed in crash calls for stronger laws on drunken driving
Reporter: Terrence Stutz
Austin Bureau of The Dallas Morning News
Published: October 4, 1995
AUSTIN – Mitchie Mitchell spent his 10th birthday Tuesday urging state senators to get tough on drunken drivers, like the one who left him paralyzed in a 1989 accident – his own father.
The Round Rock fourth-grader and his mother, Joyce Hunt, told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee that Texas needs stronger laws to combat drunken driving. Sitting in his wheelchair, Mitchie described the numerous injuries he suffered Sept. 17, 1989, when his father, who was intoxicated, lost control of the vehicle they were driving on a highway near Florence.
“I was underneath the car, bleeding. My tummy was cut by the seat belt, and my back had a cut, too,” he told the Senate panel. “My legs were paralyzed, and I couldn’t walk any more.”
Ms. Hunt said her son, who was hospitalized for nearly a year, is lucky to be alive.
“Doctors said he will never be able to walk, but we all have faith,” she said. “They also said that he would not live after the accident.”
Her ex-husband, who received minor injuries, served two years of a five-year sentence on a felony conviction for causing serious bodily injury to his son while driving under the influence of alcohol.
“We probably can never, ever stop drinking and driving, but we can do something to enforce the law to make people think twice before they do it,” Ms. Hunt said.
“Please send a message across the country that Texas will not tolerate drinking and driving.”
Last year, 1,170 people were killed and more than 34,000 injured in DWI-related accidents on Texas highways, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Ms. Hunt said two steps that could be taken to beef up drunken driving laws would be the use of DWI checkpoints and a lowering of the current legal intoxication limit.
Sen. David Sibley, R-Waco, also appeared before the committee to seek support for legislation that would allow law enforcement agencies to set up DWI checkpoints in Texas.
A bill by Mr. Sibley to allow checkpoints passed the Senate earlier this year but died in a House committee. The measure was introduced after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in June 1994 that DWI roadblocks were unconstitutional because there were no statewide guidelines on their use.
Mr. Sibley said he will sponsor a similar measure in the 1997 legislative session. He said studies have shown that communities using DWI checkpoints have fewer arrests for drunken driving.
“The jurisdictions that do have sobriety checkpoints are perceived to be very tough on drunk drivers, and people modify their behavior,” he said. “Those without sobriety checkpoints have more arrests for DWI and are perceived by the public as being easier on DWI.”
A total of 38 states currently allow checkpoints to reduce drunken driving.
Under his proposal, a motorist could not be questioned for more than two minutes nor be stopped by a roadblock for more than 10 minutes. In addition, a checkpoint could not be set up at a location for more than four hours at a time or more than twice in a week.
Ms. Hunt voiced her support for Mr. Sibley’s bill by pointing to her son.
“We can’t change what has happened to him, but we could do something to prevent it from happening to others,” she said.
Copyright 1995 The Dallas Morning News Company