The University of Illnois refuses to stay out of the spotlight. Last week a car driven by Illinois guard Jamar Smith struck a tree. The passenger in that car was Brian Carwell, freshman center on the Illinois team. Carwell suffered a serious concussion and was in critical condition following the accident. At the time of the crash, the details were unclear and it just seemed like an accident on an icy road. That’s why they call them accidents right? No one to blame here.
Except that it wasn’t just the snowy conditions that caused ol’ Jamar to run his Lexus (“where there’s smoke there’s probably fire”) into a tree. Jamar’s blood alcohol of .176 was more than twice the legal limit of .08. That is not even the impressive part of this story. I am sure there comes a point in everyone’s life you when you realize you have really screwed up. At that point you have a couple of choices: 1. Quit while you are behind. Admit your mistake, and take the punishment. 2. Attempt to rectify your mistake by making several more mistakes. Jamar dove headlong into number 2.
He backed the car out of the tree and drove home. He parked his car at his apartment, went into his home and went to bed. Oh did I forget something? Oh yeah, the unconscious person in passenger seat. Brian Cardwell had suffered a serious concussion in the crash and Jamar Smith called absolutely no one. He just drove the car home and left his friend to die in the passenger seat. Jamar thought that he friend was dead and he figured he would be dead in the morning, so why not leave his ass in the car. Thankfully for Carwell, someone saw Smith’s damaged Lexus pull into the parking lot with an unconscious man in the passenger seat and called the police.
Can you even imagine the scene? You and your buddies are having a little house party in the adjacent apartment complex. You hear metal dragging on pavement about a block away and a car that looked like it just hit a tree pulling in the parking lot. The car parks at a 45 degree angle in the lot and a drunk and injured man staggers towards his door. More than a half hour later Jamar has the key in the lock and he makes it in the door. Unfortunately for Jamar, this is not the game of “Tag”, there is no home base where you can’t be tagged or prosecuted. (That is an interesting concept though, if you think about it, more on that later) So the party goers make their way over to the damage car and see a nearly dead gentleman. I wish I was at that party and I could have knocked on Jamar Smith’s door and attempted to have a dialogue with him.
“Hey, Jamar. Yeah, hi how are doing? Great, yeah, not sure if you know, but there is an almost dead guy in your car, and he is bleeding from the skull. It looks like it is getting all over the upholstery. You know, just thought I would mention it because we are neighbors. Anything I can do? Oh okay, you’ll take care of it in the morning? Great,okay, just wanted to let you know. Alrite, have a great night.
That is called compounding your mistakes ladies and gentlemen. Not just drunk driving. Not just getting into a car accident while drunk. Not just nearly killing your passenger in a drunk driving accident. Jamar Smith drove drunk, got into accident, nearly killed his passenger, left the scene of the accident drunk, and then went home and left his passenger in the car for dead.
This isn’t, “Sorry I broke your chair last night dude, I was soooo drunk.” This is, “Sorry I got into an accident and nearly killed you and then left you for dead.” No wonder this guy is taking the rest of the season off. In my opinion he should take the rest of his life off. He is a perfect candidate for my sterilization/euthanization program. Either that or my radical “Role Reversal,” punishment where Brian Carwell would get to drive a car full speed into a tree with Jamar Smith in the passenger seat. Carwell will wear an astronaut suit to avoid injury. Carwell will also have the choice of leaving an injured Smith in the car overnight to die. I have e-mailed my congressman and with the speed of today’s information super-highway my idea should be law by Monday. Look for the “Made for TV” special “Now it’s my turn to get drunk, run my car into a tree, nearly kill you and leave you for dead.” Look for this blockbuster on Fox in the timeslot immediately following, “When Hungry Tigers are deliberately released at the Special Olympics.”
The Angry T