Freddy Hernandez
It’s funny how everything happens in the blink of an eye.
One minute you’re on top of the world-and then, “BAM!” Everything comes crashing down.
That’s what happened to me this month. It was a typical weeknight, a long day at school followed by work until 1 a.m.
Afterwards, I’d go to my car for a drink, sometimes it’d be beer, and other nights it would be liquor.
Still, alcohol is alcohol and it proved to be my undoing.
Things are kind of fuzzy, but what does stand out is that a friend arrived to pick up his brother (we had both finished our shifts at the same time).
We agreed to meet back at our friend’s apartment for some more drinking and perhaps a couple of tokes as well.
I never made it.
By the time we left work, I was so intoxicated that not only did I drive in the opposite direction but I wrecked my car beyond repair. Let’s just say sleep deprivation and alcohol don’t make good bedfellows.
All I remember is making a left turn and then dozing off.
When I came to, the front of the car was smashed in, the airbags deployed and the engine was still running but the car wouldn’t go anywhere.
That was just the beginning.
The police arrived about half-hour later. After determining that my alcohol blood level was twice the legal limit, they placed me under arrest for driving under the influence (DUI).
I’ll never forget the cold bite of the steel handcuffs on my wrists as an officer read me my Miranda Rights.
I couldn’t believe it. What had I done? What was going to happen to me?
They took me to the police station in Van Nuys where I spent the night in a holding cell. Though it was only one night, it seemed like an eternity and it’s something I don’t want to experience ever again.
Sitting behind bars between a crack dealer and other drunk drivers with nothing to do except wait to see if I’d be released, my emotions fluctuated from anger to shock, self-pity to fear.
I knew I didn’t belong here, that I was not like them. But I also knew my decision to drink and drive was what got me there. It was no one’s fault except my own.
Coming to terms with that has been one of the hardest parts of this whole ordeal. As to what’s going to happen next, I don’t know.
One thing is for certain though, my drinking and smoking days are over. Just thinking about beer, liquor or pot makes me shudder and cringe.
My court hearing is at the end of the month and I’m scared of what the judge will say.
I can’t afford a lawyer and I no longer have a car. My sentence will most likely include Alcoholics Anonymous classes in addition to traffic school and an expensive fine.
It sucks that I had to learn this the hard way, yet learn I did. It’s an experience that will either make me or break me.
Well, I refuse to be broken, though at times it feels like I might.
There is a line from the movie, “Batman Begins” that I take heart from when I want to give up.
“Why do we fall?” Bruce Wayne’s father asks him.
When the young Wayne has no response, his dad answers: “So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”