I’m a little late on this story, but I thought it was worth writing about.
Michael Delgadillo, a 32 year veteran of the Costa Mesa Police Department, was killed on March 5th after his Honda Accord crashed into the support pillar on Bristol Street under the 55 freeway in Costa Mesa, California.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Newport Beach Police officers determined that the 55 year old was drinking at the popular Costa Mesa eateries, Skosh Monahan’s and Mi Casa before the accident. Following the crash, Delgadillo was transferred to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana where he was pronounced dead.
It was later determined that Delgadillo’s blood alcohol content was 0.14 percent, almost twice the legal limit. What’s more, Newport Beach police has also determined that Delgadillo was also texting while driving drunk and not wearing his seatbelt.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “the primary cause of the crash was determined to be driving under the influence of alcohol, with making unsafe turning movement as a contributing factor.”
Although, this blog is primarily about California DUIs and California DUI laws, it is worth occasionally mentioning the risks of texting while driving also.
A recent study by Cohen Children’s Medical Center found that texting while driving killed more teenagers that drunk driving last year. In April, I wrote about a study that suggested texting while driving might be just as dangerous a drunk driving. Add alcohol to the mix and people’s judgment decreases while their false sense of ability increases, thus making it likely that drunk drivers believe that they can safely text while driving.
Drunk texting is usually not a good idea. Drunk driving is never a good idea. But when you combine drinking with texting while driving, the consequences can be deadly.
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