Could a fatal DWI have been stopped?
A brutal DWI accident that recently rocked northern New Mexico also may lead to more citizen action.
On Nov. 11, Tesuque resident Dana Papst swerved his white pickup truck into oncoming traffic on I-25 before slamming into a minivan carrying a Las Vegas family of six. The crash killed Papst, who had been drinking heavily, and the entire family, save 15-year-old Arissa Garcia.
Linda Atkinson, executive director of the DWI Resource Center, says that somebody should have reported Papst, seen
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drinking on a US Airways flight from Phoenix, before he even left the Albuquerque International Sunport. "People need to be a hero," Atkinson says. "If you have any doubt at all about whether someone's drunk and might be driving, you need to call it in," she says.
New Mexico Department of Public Safety (DPS) spokesman Peter Olson says his agency is not aware of any calls to law enforcement regarding Papst's driving, prior to the deluge of calls that flooded a local dispatch center once Papst began careening the wrong way down I-25.
However, since the accident, drivers seem to have a renewed sense of vigilance. Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano says during the weekend of Nov. 18, the Sheriff's Department received 27 calls from citizens reporting drunk driving-an unprecedented number.
Roadside vigilance of this nature also has inspired former Toronto police officer Doug Raven Hicks to launch ROAD WATCH New Mexico.
Hicks' group will educate the general public on how to effectively report drunk drivers to the police and maintain visual contact with drunk drivers. The group will hold its first community meeting on Nov. 30, 7 pm, at RainbowVision (500 Rodeo Road).
"Part of the idea is to get feedback from people as to what can work best," Hicks says.
In the meantime, law enforcement officials and others continue to follow up on the details of the Papst accident to determine liability.
According to Olson, DPS's Special Investigations Division (SID) is investigating the airport's responsibility and also where Papst purchased an additional six-pack of beer, the evidence of which was found in his truck. Olson says SID has identified two possible locations.
Atkinson says the accident also reveals the need for greater law enforcement presence on the highways and elsewhere.
"What research has told us is that if you're arresting a benchmark of 2 percent of your licensed drivers for DWI, you can reduce death and injury," she says.
But such arrests have been declining, according to a DWI Resource Center report. Last year, there were 18,167 DWI arrests of licensed drivers, 1.37 percent of the total number of licensed drivers in the state, the study shows.
However, Sheriff Solano, whose department is handling the crash investigation, says the best chance to have stopped Papst was at the airport, not necessarily on the road.
"Police presence is important, and I'm always an advocate for more police," Solano says. "But I'm not certain it would have made a difference in this case unless somebody noticed him before he got in his car. His tolerance must have been very high."
At the state level, Gov. Bill Richardson's Anti-DWI Strike Force, a multiagency organization created in the wake of the crash, wants to address more diligent monitoring of individuals who receive New Mexico driver licenses but incurred DWIs in other states. Papst was arrested and convicted for at least three DWIs in Colorado before obtaining a New Mexico license.
But, like Atkinson and Solano, state DWI czar Rachel O'Connor believes increased law enforcement and roadside awareness cannot be forgotten.
"We need to look beyond legislation," she says. "And part of that is doing things administratively that allows for more police on the roads."
