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Stephen Dewart will soon be a 29-year-old millionaire, thanks to the jury in his personal injury case. But he would give all $2.4 million of it back just to turn back the clock and be whole again.

On May 21, 2011, it was a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon when a drunken city truck driver plowed his city-issued Ford F-150 pick-up into a crowd of pedestrians on a Gold Coast sidewalk.


Dewart was one of seven people injured in the crash at Cedar and Rush. He suffered a shattered fibula that required surgery to insert a plate, a shattered tibia that required another surgery to insert a rod and four fractured vertebrae in his back.

Laborer Dwight Washington, who was behind the wheel, had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit and an open bottle of brandy in the cab. He was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of aggravated driving under the influence.

“I first heard loud screeching tires. Then, out of the corner of my right eye, I see this white pick-up barreling toward me at a high-rate of speed. I heard the engine accelerate and realized there was nothing I could do. I was frozen,” Dewart recalled Monday.

Dewart said he was assisting with a photo shoot for his wife’s business on the day that changed his life. His parents were also downtown and just happened to stumble upon the freak accident that injured their son.


“My dad rushed over to help some men maneuver the truck away from the people underneath it and saw me. I remember being on the ground in a lot of pain looking up and seeing my parents hovering above me. I honest to God thought I was dead. It was the most bizarre thing in the world,” Dewart said.

The $2.4 million in damages was awarded late Friday by a jury that deliberated less than two hours. The five-day trial was confined to damages after the city acknowledged responsibility, according to Susan Novosad, Dewart’s attorney.




“One of the jurors said to me, `Now that this is over, go enjoy your life.’ That was very telling because it’s been very difficult to enjoy life these past two years. My body will not be the same. I’ve had three surgeries and months of physical therapy. It’s been difficult on my marriage. It was hell,” said Dewart, who is now studying for his MBA at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Dewart said he holds the city and the driver “equally” responsible for the “utterly avoidable” tragedy.

“He had a bottle of alcohol in the truck with him. Had the city supervised its employees well enough, this never would have happened. It was not an accident,” he said.

“The driver made the decision to act that way, but the city should have had checks in place to prevent it and ensure their employees are fit to drive. If it means modifying the truck so you have to blow into a Breathalyzer every time you start it, so be it.”


Im with him as far as yes he should receive some compensation for being injured by a drunk driving on duty city worker but this ? So every city truck is supposed to be fit with the Breathalyzer now? what about any truck anywhere? any car thats driven anywhere by anyone? Of course Im sure he wouldnt mind his taxes going up to offset the cost of installing these things on EVERY car and truck that performs business on the cities behalf. I mean c'mon really?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

sooo....you're DB'ing the guy that had massive injuries caused by a drunk driver ???

because he thinks it could have been avoided ??

I think it sounds pretty stupid to say the city is equally responsible for it. It's the stupid motherfucker drinking and driving.

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You think the way he's claiming it couldve been avoided is realistic?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Why not breathalyzers in every car?


I mean if you want to end drunk driving

Too easy.

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Elections have consequences.

yes, as has been mentioned on her before during drunk driving discussions and was mentioned by the guy as well in the part you bodled- install an interlock device. if not as broad reaching as the general public, then surely for city owned vehicles

Why not outlaw all cars?

I mean if you want to end global warming.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Save the planet and have a 100% earth suicide day. Let everything evolve over again.

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Elections have consequences.

I guess I would need to see some data to analyze whether the likely millions of dollars it would cost to install breathalyzers in every municipally owned vehicle makes sense. I mean how many cases of drunk driving city/town/county/state workers are there?

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i need to figure out how to work in self-checkouts, a homoerotic joke, a B&B meme and the minimum wage level to tie every post on the board ever together

how many do you know about ?

just because this guy plowed into a bunch of people and made headlines doesn't mean there aren't others doing it who HAVEN'T done that yet
in fact, don't you think the fact this guy did probably means there are more ?
wouldn't surprise me in the least

I know this is insane, but were well into 1984 here.


They're already entrapping people and giving out DUI's like candy, Im just pointing out a reasonable solution that exposes the state's true motivations.

I'm sure it happens. Probably every profession in the country has had a person show up to work drunk/drink at work. Just not sure the cost/benefit is there.

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Pretty sure you can work around those breahtalyzer things fairly easy as well. If someone is determined to drink and drive theres really no way you can top them.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Not really.

They're pretty efficient and you have to blow continously every 15 minutes.

That's the real irony. When that thing starts beeping and you have to blow, it's more dangerous than when you got arrested for being drunk in the first place.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

i work at a Polish owned company
being hammered at 9am is the norm around here

Got any openings?

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Why not drug test workers every week?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

i would be fairly certain that those in positions like pilot, etc. are probably drug tested pretty often
does it really matter if the 17 year old kid stocking the shelves at Jewel is stoned out of his gourd ?
driving drunk could have serious repercussions

Common sense tells me that this wasn't the first time he drove a city vehicle drunk.

It also tells me that others were aware of his previous incidents.

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So as he signs the truck out at the motor pool he is slurring his words and spilling his brandy all over the clipboard. The boss just sits back and laughs "That's Ed for ya! What a knucklehead! hahaha"

I find it much easier to believe the guy was just a high functioning alcoholic and ended up fucking up several people's lives.

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There have been cops on shifts that haven't been sober a day of work in more than twenty years.

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Keep shooting and driving straight. That's all I ask.

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As well as plumbers, architects, landscapers, bankers, etc.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

The drinky thread on this site gets bumped a lot in the mornings too.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

This guys parents shouldn't have let him and his friends drink at their house at youths.

Are they driving city vehicles too?

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