One needs look no further than Paul Phelps to understand that anyone can get into a bad situation. At his sentencing hearing after causing a car accident that led to Maryland DUI/DWI charges, the judge told Phelps that he appeared to be a "good man," and that "I don't sentence you with any joy. I sentence you because I must."
As Heather Rawlyk reports for Hometown Annapolis, Phelps's decision to drink and drive led to severe injuries to three people who had just arrived in the U.S. on work Visas.
One of those people was 26-year-old Chalinee Unchain from Thailand, who was riding as a passenger in the backseat of a car when Phelps came from the other direction, heading the wrong way. As Rawlyk reports, Phelps said, "I was eating my WaWa sub when I saw headlights coming at me." Phelps had driven onto an exit ramp and was going eastbound against westbound traffic.
Phelps's vehicle struck Unchain's, causing her car to flip. Unchain was thrown from the car, skidded "for some time" on the ground, according to the prosecutor, and suffered a ruptured spleen and liver, among other injuries.
Phelps's injuries were "minor," as Rawlyk reports, but his blood-alcohol content was more than two times the limit to drive. Phelps's DUI defense attorney told the judge that his client suffered from sickle cell anemia. As such, Phelps's body apparently had a lower tolerance for alcohol than normal, and Phelps's WaWa sub "wasn't enough."
Everyone, 'Good' or 'Bad'
The issue, here, isn't what might have happened.
Phelps could have killed Unchain and the two people in the car he hit, but he didn't, and Unchain could have been injured more severely than she was. Though it's not entirely clear, it appears as though Unchain could make a full recovery.
If he had caused Unchain's death, Phelps would inevitably have been made out to be a worse person than even the judge found him to be. The judge read numerous letters from people attesting to Phelps's good character.
As it happened, Phelps got more than a year with a combination of jail, workhouse and house arrest. And Unchain cried "uncontrollably" and said, "I just want him to feel my pain."
The issue is that drunk driving has the potential to cause irrevocable damage - to the driver, who could get felony DWI charges if someone is killed as a result of an alcohol-related accident, as well as the person whose life is lost or permanently changed from disabling injuries.
It simply does not matter whether or not the person charged with DUI/DWI is a "good" or "bad" person. Drunk driving is a serious mistake. And Phelps, who the judge believed "had no intent of hurting her," will nonetheless serve significant time behind bars.
