U.S.A Diaspora Shuttered Dreams It’s everyone’s wish to pursue his or her own individual dream and somehow make it undeviating but at times, we are masters of our own destiny for we sometimes end up in embarrassing harrowing situations that are in a way avoidable.
In our second series of Shattered Dreams Real Stories, we focus on D.U.I. as it is a major swing drift spurious misadventure that will see many ending up in jail or being deported.
The same start with running that red light and unable to produce the insurance fast enough, and while still searching, the hawk-eyed police officer will be closely watching your movement and then upon hearing your accent, he will demand more items that you may not be able to produce at that time.
That will be the beginning of another unanticipated long journey as the same officer, will later suggest a safe place called “jail” for you to spend the night which according to him, will be a gesture of some kind of favor.
Yes you will be told to park your car to get a free cop ride that will thereafter spin a lot of misery leading to doom and despair
That is when you will discover that H.E. Ambassador Robinson Githae is limited by jurisdiction for the assistance he can be able to offer to Kenyans arrested in U.S.A.
The Kenya Government in the first place will have no powers to secure your release neither will they have funds for your legal fees or any other related expenses and therefore, you will be entirely on your own.
The whatsapp groups as usual will be busy to help a brother and it’s also a time to discover that your drinking mates are no genuine friends like you always thought for their phones will permanently be off the hook and if lucky to get an answer, stories will be narrated.
There are many people that have destroyed their lives just because of imagining that they can evade police dragnet after drinking.
It starts with building confidence for after drinking, many people make it home due to mainly sheer luck but as they say, the days of a thief are forty, it is somehow true for one day, you will not be lucky.
The following Kenyans are just a few examples among the many that have become victims of D.U.I.
They are just like any other Kenyan that came to pursue their dreams but the end can somehow be traumatizing for it can be the end of a one-time promising life’s career.
The real people are here posted(taken from newspapers) not out of malice or ill intentions but to serve as a reminder to many that can end up in the same situation if not careful.
Let them be used as an eye opener so that next time you visit that friend who invited you for a goat, just smash the ribs and refrain from drinking if without a designated driver.
It can be traumatizing for if you are caught and end up in jail or deported, you will not be intellectually honest to convince anyone that it was just bad luck for you will expressly be juxtaposed against reality.
You will finally unveil the true meaning of your predicament when D.U.I will not be taken as Driving Under Influence but the Devil Under Influence.
INTERNET DATA
In 2017, the rate of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities per 100,000 population was 3.3, representing a 64% decrease since 1982, when record keeping began, and a 47% decrease since the inception of The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility in .
1991 Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 29% of the total vehicle traffic fatalities in 2017. Between 1991 and 2017, the rate of drunk driving fatalities per 100,000 population has decreased 47% nationally, and 68% among those under 21. These statistics and others are positive indicators of the gains being made to fight drunk driving.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 37,133 people died in traffic crashes in 2017 in the United States (latest figures available), including an estimated 10,874 people who were killed in drunk driving crashes involving a driver with an illegal BAC (.08 or greater). Among the people killed in these drunk driving crashes, 67% (7,052) were in crashes in which at least one driver in the crash had a BAC of .15 or higher
UNDERAGE DRUNK DRIVING FATALITIES – NATIONAL STATISTICS
Since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began recording alcohol-related statistics in 1982, the number of persons under 21, killed in drunk driving crashes decreased 80% from the record high of 5,215 in 1982 to 1,031 in 2016. These fatalities account for 10% of the drunk driving fatalities in the U.S.
For every 100,000 Americans under the age of 21, 1.2 people were killed in drunk driving fatalities in 2016. The rate of under 21 drunk driving fatalities per 100,000 population has declined 45% over the past decade.
DRUNK DRIVING FATALITIES – STATE STATISTICS
Since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates national and state alcohol-impaired statistics, drunk driving statistics can vary by state for many reasons. The rate of alcohol-impaired fatalities per 100,000 population represents the number of drunk driving fatalities for every 100,000 persons in the population being measured (e.g., U.S. total vs. specific state) which allows for more like comparisons in the data.
In 2017, the drunk-driving fatality rate was 3.3 per 100,000 population nationally. In 22 states and D.C., the drunk-driving fatality rate per 100,000 population was at or below the national level.
A FEW EXAMPLES OF KENYANS SHATTERED DREAMS DUE TO D.U.I.
Wilfred Christopher Olalo jailed in US for drunk driving after 9 years on the run
It can happen to anyone and while driving that car after drinking a few bottles the world can turn upside down as it happened to one Christopher.
He had no idea he would one day get arrested after going into hiding for 9 years in Kenya but was finally apprehended and taken back to US to stand trial.
Mr Olalo caused three crashes in less than half an hour in the city of Rockville, MD.
In one of the crashes, he slammed into the back of two vehicles, one of which was being driven by the retired cop, 76-year-old Joseph O’Brien.
Mr O’Brien succumbed to his injuries two years later in 2006.
Had Olalo taken a cab that evening, or taken home by a friend, he would still be pursuing his American dream.
A Kenyan man in Dallas, Texas after a fatal accident that killed two people was charged in court with two counts of intoxication manslaughter.
He killed two people one early Sunday morning near the Dallas North Tollway in Dallas.
26-year-old Moses Githenya Mwangi was driving drunk heading Eastbound on Frankford rd when he ran a red light and hit a car with two occupants killing both on the spot.
COMMENT
Majority of the youth drink and drive and after arriving home safely, convince themselves that they can handle the vehicle while drunk and before they know, it becomes a habit.
They may be lucky for a while but one day, they will not be lucky for even a sober person can hit your vehicle from behind and die as a result of the crash.
You will however not convince the police that you did not do it for after they take the alcohol test, you will be charged with homicide.
One man had this advice to the youth (as copied from Diaspora magazines).
“Some of us have been lucky not to be caught! He just made a bad choice and it was not his lucky day. Please don’t drive your car to the bar even if you plan on drinking just one for it will lead to two. Take Uber and avoid any chance of getting a DUI
May God give comfort to the relatives of the deceased and may Mr.Mwangi get a fair trial for he still has not realized the American dream”
This one did not think he deserved any mercy!
“He isn’t even a U.S. citizen so he will just be deported. Now tell me to not be pissed off! Someone had enough money to bail him out so he will be just fine while hundreds of us had to bury loved ones. (unprintable) this dude. I think this should be a lesson to many”
Onyango Obama 67 year in 2011, was arrested after running a red light while intoxicated when police pulled him over.
Though an illegal immigrant Mr Onyango like any other Kenyan had left home with big dreams in life but ended up as a beer lover product.
Lucky all the time after drinking, he would make it home without arrest until that day he ran a red light.
He had thought that by invoking the name of the President, they would spare him but got a rude shock when they booked him in.
It can happen to anyone so if you drive to drink, don’t drive after drinking, leave the car and take a cab.
Onyango was Just lucky for he was not deported and was finally given a “green card” but he still have a record just because of that bottle that he could have taken at his house while watching TV.
ELSEWHERE OTHER KENYANS CAUGHT WITH DUI WERE NOT LUCKY AND THEIR AMERICAN DREAM SHATTERED
A 74-year-old anonymous Kenyan who has been in the United States (US) for 42 years was deported recently after he was accused of drunk driving.
The man spent a period of two weeks in a detention camp before being flown back home.
He was among five other Kenyans who landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in a private jet in August, 2018 over immigration issues.
He had been fined $1,240 which he paid almost immediately but after getting out of the courtroom, he was re-arrested and sent to a detention camp.
After deportation, he was bragging how he will one day return to America but knowing how tight the USA airport checks are now and always will be, he may have been thinking of somewhere else like United States of Kisumu.
OTHERS ON THE SAME DIRECT FLIGHT WERE:
Kihanya -Shattered dream because of a beer
Bota – Shattered dream because of a beer
Githua -Shattered dream because of a beer
Mose – Shattered dream because of a beer
Nyachae -Shattered dream because of a beer
Ongori –Shattered dream because of a beer
Kiragu –Shattered dream because of a beer
Sila-Shattered dream because of a beer.
Immigrants and Kenyans especially are being focused by the radar and US immigration officials are targeting social places and many will definitely be deported.
It does not matter if one has a green card or not for if you are caught with a DUI AND CAUSE AN ACCIDENT the American dream will be shortened and you will wake up in a camp somewhere waiting to be processed to take the direct flight.
It only take merry making with friends one evening, charting and enjoying a beer or two and after saying goodbye, it could be the last time as the Feds replaced the hawks and are watching day and night, waiting and waiting just for you to make that one mistake, and then before you know your next destination is:KENYA
Have a safe trip and if that time Kenya Airways will be serving the beer that caused your much misery, take it for if headache is a fashion, you will be in style my brother.
The plane will finally take off and cruising the America airspace then your mind will look into the immediate distant past and as the City you once lived in become fainter and fainter, your mind will be blank as you try to focus and imagine your blink future into the unknown.
It will be the most boring flight you have ever taken in your life as you intermingle with other smiling people maybe going home for a holiday and as they happily talk of their successes to each other, you will that time be counting your loses.
Yes loses for the only possession you will be holding after staying in America for ten years will be a crispy $78 dollars handed to you by prison officials and the dirty faded tattered clothes you will be wearing.
The American dream shattered by a bottle of beer and the idea of making America a second home, the pledge and the vows you made, just an illusion and never again a reality.
COMMENTARY
We can conclude that all is not lost for if jail time, or deportation, happens to anyone, you can still overcome it, get yourself organized and start life afresh in Kenya but that time, being quite aware that beer is your worst enemy.
May what you read serve as a reminder of bad things that can happen to anyone for you could still be sober and end into the same situation but D.U.I. being the number one cause.
May the God of hope fill you all with joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13
Compiled from real stories by:
D.K. Gitau
President
Columnist/Contributor: Diaspora Messenger
