Encounter with a drunk driver in Port Aransas

[ATXBowhunter]

Last wknd we rented a house in Port A with my brother and his family. We are driving back after dinner when all of a sudden we got hit from behind - the car behind us swerved into the curb, taking out sev'l traffic barrels and then hits our car w/a barrel stuck on the front of his car (we were in a minivan with 4 adults/4 kids). The car then passes us on the inside lane and continues driving along 361 towards town like nothing happened. He finally pulls over and starts dropping f-bombs and calling my brother an idiot. He was an older guy and could barely finish a sentence - his breathe totally reaked of alcohol and he looked like he was going to fall over. We immed called the Port A police, and told the guy to mellow out and let's wait for the police b/c he was being so combative. At that pt, he gets back into his car and takes off - WITH HIS LIGHTS OFF AND A TRAFFIC BARREL STUCK UNDER THE FRONT OF HIS CAR. The cops arrived a few mins later; gave them pics of the car and license plate, but they said there wasn't much they could do. We enjoy going to Port A but seems to be more and more drinking going on there. I hated that this guy continued on his way and could have hurt someone else. Maybe I should have physically restrained him but my common sense always tells me to avoid confrontations with crazy drunk people, esp when we had youngsters in the car

[Ætheling]

Not much they could do for a hit and run with evidence and a license plate proving identification on the offending vehicle??????????

[Poco]

I'm a major fan of the blue and don't know the law but that sounds like a lazy cop to me.

Ray

[ATXBowhunter]

Not much they could do for a hit and run with evidence and a license plate proving identification on the offending vehicle??????????

There wasn't any visible damage to our car - ironically the traffic barrel acted as a padding between his vehicle and ours, so really just a few scratches. The policeman was really nice and said they'd be watching for him, but w/o damage to our car and the fact that he wasn't there, not much they could do.

[Burnadell]

Please provide the rest of the story.

He was drunk, hit and damaged your truck (...well, uh, minivan ), and the cop says there was nothing he could do??? The drunk drove off, and he would not go after him??? Why???

edit: was posting while you were. I now see there was no damage, but I still can't believe the cop did not go after him for drunk driving!

[cj7zrcool]

I would have followed him @ a safe distance and stayed on the phone with police.

[KactusKiller]

Yes as above I would have followed behind a ways and had the popo on the phone until they caught him. Wouldn't think it would be that hard to find a car without lights on and a traffic barrier stuck under it.

[Chew]

Please provide the rest of the story.

He was drunk, hit and damaged your truck (...well, uh, minivan ), and the cop says there was nothing he could do??? The drunk drove off, and he would not go after him??? Why???

edit: was posting while you were. I now see there was no damage, but I still can't believe the cop did not go after him for drunk driving!

There's a difference between, "Officer, there he goes!" or "Officer, he just left 1 minute ago!" and "Officer, he took off about 20 minutes ago". He probably put out the description of the car or dispatch may have already done it when they called in originally. But usually looking for a drunk driver in a busy town well after the fact never ends successfully. He's already at home taking a leak and popping a top while the officer is pulling up the scene.

This is just a guess based on experience....not sure what the elapsed time was.

[ATXBowhunter]

Yes as above I would have followed behind a ways and had the popo on the phone until they caught him. Wouldn't think it would be that hard to find a car without lights on and a traffic barrier stuck under it.

We would have done that but we had 4 small kids in the car (the youngest was freaking out)...I didn't think it was worth it to possibly put the kids in a bad situation, regardless.

[ATXBowhunter]

There's a difference between, "Officer, there he goes!" or "Officer, he just left 1 minute ago!" and "Officer, he took off about 20 minutes ago". He probably put out the description of the car or dispatch may have already done it when they called in originally. But usually looking for a drunk driver in a busy town well after the fact never ends successfully. He's already at home taking a leak and popping a top while the officer is pulling up the scene.

This is just a guess based on experience....not sure what the elapsed time was.

You are correct...the officer was really nice and mentioned that a big part of his activity on wknd nights was drunk driver/alcohol-related calls...I really respect our police and honestly would not want his job, esp down in Port A.

[Burntorange Bowhunter]

Drinking has been going on in Port A for decades.

[ArrowHead]

It sounds like you encountered Otis from Mayberry RFD.

I had a truck parked on the street at noon in FtW ,while i was eating lunch.Had it rear ended by a drunk that just got out of jail for Meth and the Ftw PD carried him home,Im still ****** about that one!

[ultrastealth]

Look, I support law enforcement to the hilt, but there are good and bad cops. Most are really good people who are doing what they do because they genuinely want to make a difference in society. Then there are the lazy asses who are just pulling a paycheck and get really pissy if you interrupt their routine.

[mrc]

That intersection was crazy last week when we were there.

[Burnadell]

There's a difference between, "Officer, there he goes!" or "Officer, he just left 1 minute ago!" and "Officer, he took off about 20 minutes ago". He probably put out the description of the car or dispatch may have already done it when they called in originally. But usually looking for a drunk driver in a busy town well after the fact never ends successfully. He's already at home taking a leak and popping a top while the officer is pulling up the scene.

This is just a guess based on experience....not sure what the elapsed time was.

Aw hush up. What do you know?