Letting Laws Be the Lesson: Driving Under the Influence

The drama continues to unfold in the trial of the driver who killed Angel’s pitcher Nick Adenhart and two of his friends.

"I (expletive deleted) up."

In a Grand Jury testimony, Fullerton police investigator Matthew Malone, who interviewed Andrew Thomas after his arrest, said that he started crying when he was told that three people were killed.

Raymond Alexandro Rivera, Gallo’s stepbrother who was with him in the van, stayed after the crash.

Other witnesses testified to seeing Gallo get out of the mini-van, make a call on his cell-phone and flee the scene. A passerby who stopped to help, testified that Gallo cursed and said that he was in trouble before he fled. He was arrested less than 30 minutes later at the shoulder of the 91 freeway.

Rivera reveals that he was with Gallo hours before the crash occurred. It started at restaurant called Johnny Carino’s in Covina where Rivera admitted that he encouraged Gallo to have a shot of tequila. “…when I ordered the shot, it kind of changed the way the night was going to unfold,” Rivera said in his testimony.

The brothers then went to another bar in Covina, The Well, where they had more drinks. Fullerton police Investigator Matthew Malone also said that Gallo told him that he also had several shots of sake, from a neighboring bar five doors down.

Gallo had a blood-alcohol level of .19 percent two hours after the crash.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the probability of a fatal crash increases significantly after 0.05 percent BAC and climbs more rapidly after 0.08 percent. Drivers with very high BACs (at or above 0.15 percent) have a very high risk of dying in a crash or being severely injured.

In Gallo case, going behind the wheel with his BAC at that level is an accident waiting to happen. The car crash may have spared his life and his stepbrother, but it claimed the lives of three young people and grievously injured another.

The effects of drunk driving should not be taken lightly. Drivers have the least excuses when it comes to drinking alcohol. Although intoxication may vary greatly because the rate of absorption vary from person to person, any driver who drinks is a danger to himself and others.

Gallo, who already had a previous DUI record and a suspended license, failed to heed the purpose of DUI laws. Unfortunately for Nick Adenhart, Courtney Stewart, and Henry Pearson it was a lesson learned too late.