Police: DUI motorist kills pedestrian, drives around with body
It’s difficult to explain the behavior of even sober drivers. During a recent rainstorm, I saw professional truckers illegally using their hazard lights while motoring up I-75.
And on Ponce, after a different storm, motorists were treating a flashing yellow light like a four-way stop.
Driver education clearly ain’t what it used to be.
But drunk drivers really ramp up the tragic and bizarre.
In Texas, a drunk driver accused of killing a pedestrian was reportedly unaware he was driving around with the dead man in his passenger seat.
KTRK-TV in Houston, an ABC affiliate, reports James John Onak, 49, did not appear to notice a legless body was riding shotgun until police pulled him over and asked him to exit the vehicle.
Onak’s Mazda had “considerable front end damage,” presumably from hitting a 32-year-old man on I-45 whose car had broken down.
The body smashed through Onak’s windshield, police say, but he kept driving until police stopped him two miles down the road. He later told police he though he’d hit something, but wasn’t sure what.
The victim has not been identified.
Readers that have been around awhile may be reminded of a similar horrific event in 2004, when a drunk 21-year-old Cobb County man involved in an accident drove home with his beheaded friend’s body hanging out his pickup window. The driver was not aware of his friend’s death until a neighbor walking his 8-year-old daughter made the gruesome discovery early the next morning.
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29 comments Add your comment
Officer Friendly
June 29th, 2011
12:40 pm
“He later told police he though he’d hit something, but wasn’t sure what.”
The guy was just practicing safe driving by keeping his eyes on the road. Texting, chatting with a dead person in the passenger seat, that kind of thing, all unsafe driving habits.
Chief Wiggum
June 29th, 2011
10:25 pm
Sounds like “Weekend at Bernie’s”
IUI Idiots under the influence
June 29th, 2011
11:48 pm
“legless body was riding shotgun”…. Good Lord! What happened to the 21 yr. old Cobb County driver?
Rach
June 30th, 2011
1:14 am
I don’t know what happened to the driver, but I remember the passenger got sick, stuck his head out the window and it was cut off by one of the wire lines that connects to power poles. I wanna say it was off of Canton Road, but I could be wrong.
marie
June 30th, 2011
1:31 am
The Cobb County driver got 5 years in prison. The victim’s family begged for leniency. The driver was “like another son to them”
bigdogdaddy
June 30th, 2011
5:26 am
it’z ok ozziferr that’z my friend stumpee
the rules
June 30th, 2011
8:04 am
Do you think that the truckers were using their 4-ways because they were going below the minimum speed limit…. if so, you need to go back and read your drivers ed manual…. they’re right, you’re wrong.
Kay
June 30th, 2011
8:53 am
Thank you the rules, because I remember reading you always treat a malfuction red light like a four way stop. This guy should get a death sentence.
Stank
June 30th, 2011
9:07 am
Easy does it, Kay…. You heard wrong.”the rules” is correct on the “truckers using their flashers” comment, but he didn’t say a word about malfunctioning red lights. As for traffic signals, you are to stop at flashing red lights and proceed with caution on a flashing yellow. You do not have to stop on a flashing yellow and thinking that people will can get you killed quicker than your premature death sentence. Only on a NON-fuctioning traffic light would it become a stop from all directions. That is a no brainer, because you need to understand that some people may not have ever travelled that road and may not realize that there is a signal there that is not working, and could blow right through the intersection.
Mediator
June 30th, 2011
9:23 am
To George Mathis (the article’s writer), what does Truckers using hazards and 4 way stops have to do with a guy driving around with a body? It’s not a good analogy and you should refrain from using poor grammar such as “ain’t.” If there was a white out due to torrential rain, I would appreciate trucks using hazard lights as a cautionary measure. In terms of 4 way stops, always err on the side of caution instead of assuming that EVERYONE knows what to do. I’m surrounded by morons in this town and it seems Mr. Mathis is one of them!