Taylorville teen’s family dealing with effects of DUI crash
More than an hour into an interview about the struggles Carter and his family have gone through since then, his mother made a startling point about the lasting impact of the accident.
If Carter, then 17, had died at
Instead, they've faced medical bills exceeding
But
"I don't believe for a minute that God didn't have a hand in this," she said.
The accident may have had an effect, at least for now, on the attitudes of teenagers and young adults in the
Carter himself now says he has "completely turned my life around" and won't get behind the wheel again while impaired, even after doing so many times before the crash.
But the accident and Carter's decision to break the law triggered a journey that wasn't simple, cheap or without collateral damage, his mother said.
Because of ongoing stress related to the incident,
It's a temporary situation,
"It just about tore us apart," said Sinkhorn, a registered nurse at
Major financial, emotional impact
Emotional turmoil is one ramification of alcohol-impaired driving that is discussed in a comprehensive report on the issue from the
Drunken driving kills more than 10,000 people and injures another 290,000 people in
Though drunken-driving related fatalities have dropped significantly since the 1980s, alcohol-related fatalities have remained consistent in recent years. In response to this persistent problem -- involving the most-abused drug among teenagers and young adults -- the National Academies report, issued in January, recommends several steps to make more progress, including criminalizing alcohol-impaired driving from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent.
Alcohol-related crashes cause at least
The Sinkhorn family's share of those costs began on
The crash happened in the middle of his junior year at
"I've gone to six different parties in one night," he said, adding that parents sometimes would be present when teens were drinking, and parents sometimes drank alongside them.
Still,
On his way out of the house to the
15 beers and a brush with death
Carter said it's not hard for people younger than 21 to get alcohol when they have older friends who will buy for them, or know of stores that don't always check IDs.
He parked his pickup in nearby
About 100 people were at the party, many of them underage, he said. Beer was being served for a price, but a lot of the party-goers brought their own alcohol, he said.
Carter said he drank 15 cans of beer from his case and may have smoked marijuana before leaving the party in the early morning hours of
Rather than Carter walking several miles to
Sarginson, an
Sarginson called 911 on his cell phone, setting in motion a series of events.
Carter suffered a broken right leg and right wrist, torn ligaments in his knee, pelvic fractures, numerous breaks in the bones of his face and a brain injury known as a subdural hematoma.
He stayed at
His mother raved about the collection of medical professionals who helped save his life and get him back to what Carter called at least "80 percent" of the function he had before.
Those professionals included trauma surgeons
Carter said
Kietzman said he enjoyed coaching Carter through the process and encouraging him when he was down.
"The blessing is that Carter is young," said Kietzman, 43. "I always say young people respond so much better. He was lucky to have the medical care that he's had."
Carter has recovered enough to function normally, Kietzman said. The two are working to improve Carter's higher-level movements, such as running, though Kietzman said Carter may be more prone to get arthritis at an earlier age, and his right leg never will be exactly the same.
With Carter's determination to not repeat his past, his grades are improving, his mother said. He went back to
A lesson to others
The Sinkhorn family, however, is only now beginning to recover.
After insurance coverage was applied, the family still owes about
Because it was his first DUI offense, Carter was able to receive two years of court supervision, allowing him to avoid a conviction if he fulfills all of the court's requirements.
That's because
Kettelkamp said police learned about the party because of the crash and ended up ticketing "five or six" people for underage consumption.
The sheriff said discouraging underage drinking, as well as drinking and driving by older people, is an ongoing challenge.
"We push the importance of making good decisions," Hutchison said.
Among 10th- and 12th-graders in
But underage drinking and driving remains a "stubborn issue" and one that makes accidents even more likely among drivers with the least experience, said
Teens driving after using marijuana is a growing concern, she added.
For every DUI-related death that makes the news, there are at least 100 people who survive, sometimes with lifelong, debilitating injuries, Kyrouac said.
Beyond the expenses, the emotional stress and feelings of guilt have caused numerous family arguments and marital stress,
She said she hopes other families and teenagers learn from Carter's mistakes. The family already has benefited from kind words and prayers from friends and strangers in the
"So many parents came up to me and said, 'Our son or daughter was at that party, and it could have been them that crashed,' " she said.
Carter and his friend,
Sarginson said the incident definitely affected him.
"I think Carter's wreck helped a lot of people," Sarginson said. "They realized it wasn't worth it to get completely plastered and drive home after that.
"There's always going to be underage drinking. You'll never be able to stop drinking and driving," he said. "But I think the time of partying every single weekend is over."
Carter still has nightmares about the IVs and breathing tube and medical complications in the hospital. He said he wants to become a police officer so he can help other young people avoid the pitfalls he faced.
But his comments indicate he hasn't closed the door on some risk-taking.
"I just know I'm never going to drink and drive again -- at least be wasted and drive -- and not put other people's lives in harm's way, especially my own," he said. He added that he is playing more video games at home with his friends rather than going out and being tempted.
His mother said she isn't convinced her son's attitude is totally changed.
"He's still an 18-year-old kid,"
Carter sometimes feels discouraged about the time he has lost because of the crash and wonders about his future, she said.
"I'm trying to remind him that, 'Yeah, you made a mistake. You could have killed someone. You almost killed yourself,' but we can overcome this and he can have a future," she said. "I tell him that all the time: 'You can have a future. You can have a life. We've just got to get through the rough times, and it is rough.' ... You can't give up on your kids."
*****
Underage drinking and driving among 12th-graders
During the past 12 months, percentage of high school seniors who said they drove a car or other vehicle one or two times after drinking alcohol:
Source: 2014
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