Still Drunk ... Still Driving?

Created: 3/2/2005 12:59:45 PM
Updated: 2/11/2006 8:43:48 AM


Greensboro, NC -- A 2 Wants to Know investigation found nearly 15,000 people in the Triad with multiple alcohol-related driving charges. So people charged and convicted of DWI's are not in jail but could be out there ... still drunk ... still driving.

It's a tragic scene, the wreck of a limo smoldering on a September night.

"The next thing I know I saw this big fire going on up under the bridge," says an eyewitness.

The irony is striking, three Piedmont women rent a limo to safely enjoy a night out, but an accused drunk driver crashed into their limo killing them.

"Society pays with their family members with their kids, you know, so many times you lose an entire family. It's just a sad situation," says Michael Jackson who helped found MADD in Greensboro.

The driver, Jeffrey McFayden, had 3 previous DWI charges with one resulting in a conviction.

"Just ahhh breathtaking . you know . ummm. Heartbreaking," says Paul Cudd, Jr.

He knows from experience because he says a drunk driver killed his brother. His fear is drivers like that will be back on the road.

"That he could be drinking, he got a slap on the wrist the first time, okay, and that he could be coming down the road drinking again, and he could meet a family with three or four kids in the car and kill them," says Cudd, Jr.

"So it's that first offense, we're not taking care of business at first," says Jackson.

Jackson helped found MADD in Greensboro, and he may be right. A 2 Wants to Know investigation of the last decade found nearly 15,000 people with 2 or more alcohol related driving charges not in the state but in the Triad alone.

"Phew ... those numbers are scary," comments Jackson.

And more than 1,100 people had 4 or more charges.

"The recidivism rate does bother me, and it does bother everybody as it should bother everybody. So the chink in the armor is if it is unsupervised who is verifying that they're doing what they were ordered to do. No one," says Stuart Albright, Guilford County District Attorney.

2 Wants to Know even caught a man on tape not complying with the law.

"His license has been suspended at least since his conviction of his DWI in Guilford County," says DA Albright.

That's because he has 8 alcohol-related driving charges resulting in 4 convictions.

So WFMY News 2's Kent Bates put that question to the District Attorney asking if the man should be behind the wheel at all?

"Absolutely not. So he is knowingly, intentionally violating North Carolina law. He ought to be arrested. He ought to be charged. Because just because a judge orders it, if they're not in jail, you can't stop them from getting in a car and driving when they're not supposed to," says DA Albright.

The DA also says with our jails overcrowded and no one to watch over the cases, the drunk drivers will be back out ... killing on average one person every 30 minutes.

"The bottom line with all of this is life or death. And out of those multiple offenders, how many of those will be killers? Because a lot of them will be," says Michael Jackson.

http://wfmynews2.com/2wtk_investigation ... ryid=37142