A drunk driver hits a sober driver, the sober driver chases the drunk who then crashes into another drunk driver, gets attacked by witnesses, and everyone gets sued for $1.6 million.
As Oregon Live reports, last May in Southeast Portland, one drunk driver (Nathan Wisbeck) struck a sober driver (Sapearya Sao). Sao called 911, but then she actively chased down the drunk Wisbeck, despite the dispatcher telling her to stop. Wisbeck took off, fleeing from Sao at a claimed 50 mph in a 25 zone. The chase lasted about a mile when Wisbeck flew through a stop sign and hit another driver (Sarah Grace Anderson), who was also drunk. The crash was so severe that it rolled Anderson's van, another Oregon Live story reports, injuring her and killing her passenger.
Wisbeck was also injured, but not by the crash. Oregon Live reports that he was attacked by three men who walked up to him, stuck in his wrecked GMC truck. Witnesses state the men hit Wisbeck more than ten times in the head.
The case is now in the courts, as Anderson sues not only Wisbeck, but also Sao and both of the bars that served Wisbeck. Anderson seeks $100,000 for her medical expenses and $1.5 million for her pain and suffering.
Wisbeck later pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, third-degree assault, hit-and-run driving and driving under the influence of intoxicants. For that he got sentenced to seven and a half years in prison with a lifetime ban on his driver's license. He apologized, listened to his victim's family mourn their loss, and said he wakes up every morning in shame.
Anderson's statements in the court were equally chilling. She said she'd lost her job and her health insurance, but that was almost trivial to her sense of loss.
In facing death with someone and then being allowed to live. ...I don't know why, why did I live?
It's a chilling case, and one that stands out for how every driver made bad decisions, and how each of those mistakes had unforseen and deadly consequences. Don't drive drunk, people, and don't chase other drivers who hit you.
Photo Credit: Multnomah Co. Sheriff's Office, Google Street View (scene of final crash pictured)