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A Sobering Reminder

April 15, 2009 02:36 PM ET | Jen A. Miller | Permanent Link

Do you like this story?

Megan A. Perry’s story is a tragic one—but one that is worth retelling as we move into summer party time.

May 15, 2008, was supposed to be a happy day for Perry. The 25-year-old woman from Wilmington, Delaware, was to be a bridesmaid in a friend’s wedding in Sea Isle City. After a rehearsal dinner at the Deauville Inn in Strathmere, Perry caught a ride back to Sea Isle with groomsman Jayson Maykut, 29.

The drive from Strathmere to Sea Isle is a straight shot down Landis Avenue. It should have been a quick, easy drive. But not for someone who had eight to ten cocktails and didn’t feel impaired, as Maykut initially claimed in court.

Maykut wrapped the car around a pole, killing Perry. He pled guilty to a charge of vehicular homicide on April 3 and faces up to four years in jail.

It sounded all too familiar. I was 17 when I had my encounter with a drunk driver. I was a block from home when a big black truck slammed into the rear passenger side of my car. When he got out of his truck, the driver screamed that I didn’t have my blinker on. He smelled. He wore a Coors Light pin with blinking red lights. I found out the next day, when I went to the police station to give my statement, that he had just turned 21.

“Don’t drink and drive” has been drilled into all of us. Still, we hear people insist, “I’m fine” — when we know they are not. I’ve heard people brag about not remembering how they got home last night. But this is not something to laugh about with friends. Would Maykut have joked the next day at the wedding how he’d cruised home just fine? Would Perry have giggled to the bridesmaids how she was glad she got home OK even though Maykut looked a little worse for the wear?  

So as the warmer weather rolls across New Jersey and summer days mean later nights, keep their stories, and mine, in mind. We don’t need any new sobering tales.

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Tags: car accidents | drinking | Sea Isle | Sea Isle City | summer | Maykut, Jayson, | Perry, Megan, | Strathmere | drunk driving



Comments
na

it’s nice that you try to help people understand the consequences of drunk driving, but do you really need to exaggerate at the cost of the hurt this article may cause people involved in the accident? even the family of deceased megan. You make this young man sound horrible, but really you can never know the good this man has done in his life. I think he has guilt enough and he doesn’t need another article to make vivid this memory.

Posted by: john smith, None | May 25, 2009 19:22:21 PM |

Understandable but not necessary

The consequences of drunk driving can clearly be tragic, but I second Mr. Smith’s notion that Maykut is likely feeling enough guilt without the incessant reminder of his tragic mistake. I am not condoning Maykut’s decision, but how many people get behind the wheel of a car drunk and that trip does NOT end in an accident? Too many to count. But the tragic thing is, this one did. Take a minute to think about the person, the human behind the accident. You could never know the good he’s done with the overshadowing of this mistake. Just try though...just try...

Posted by: Jane Smith, None | May 26, 2009 17:15:55 PM |