Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
We live at the corner of Airport and Woodward and heard the ominous screeching of tires, the breaking glass, the crushing of the metals from our bedroom along that night — then total silence. Grabbing the flashlight and blankets, towels and cell phone we ran out the door. This is nothing new for this intersection, as either Manteca Police or the Sheriff’s Department will tell you. Sometimes I think I spend more time calling 911 from accidents or disputes or reckless driving here, than I do talking to friends on the phone., I have spent countless hours on the phone pleading for more law enforcement presence at this intersection for over 15 years. There are many, many more accidents that are never reported because the drivers were barely able to drive their damaged cars away, before we could get out there to assist, or before law enforcement arrived. But the glass and debris left behind tells the story.
We were one of two folks first on scene who ran out to see if anyone needed help early on New Year’s morning. The other gentleman was doing cleanup work after an event at the Temple across the intersection, and was luckily a former U.S. military medic who was able to help enormously before emergency personnel arrived on scene, while I called 911. This isn’t one of those reenactments done every year at the high schools, this is real life. A young man in a mass of tangled wreckage not moving or making a sound, a mere five feet away from us, that needed the jaws to extract him from the wreckage. My husband sadly spoke with (accident victim) Nick Cargill’s brother-in-law that morning after the sun broke, as he was walking the aftermath of the accident, his hands in his pockets, his head down. This is what everyone, young and old, needs to look at, focus on, and not just see in a passing glance as they whiz by a wreck at the side of the road. See it up close and personal — a human being, alive but unconscious, lying so still not making a sound. A vehicle so damaged you could not even determine the make or model. The other driver, apparently intoxicated, yet in shock as well, wandering around apologizing endlessly to ever one there. His truck flipped over and heavily damaged lay hundreds of feet up the road. It was amazing he could walk, much less get out of his mangled vehicle.
My three children, all graduates of Sierra or Manteca high schools, adults now with families of their own, have attended six times more funerals than both my husband and myself combined have in our entire lifetimes, all before they turned 21. All but one of those deaths was from a drunken driving incident. And, many more of their friends were to be affected for life from the resultant injuries.
There is not one single Friday or Saturday night where we do not hear multiple times throughout the night, the familiar sounds of cars breaks screaming to a halt, angry voices yelling, or cars purposefully running the stop signs, burning rubber in circles in this intersection, even drag racing off the stop sign, then on to their parties in the rural orchards or where ever it is they are headed. But, it’s that eerie silence after hearing the impact, glass, tires — that’s what gets to you. You hold your breath hoping to hear something, some sound, even if it is the car screaming away. And, then how many times did I hear a parent say ‘I would rather provide the location and liquor if my kids stay home’, or “at least if the kids meet here, we can monitor the party for everyone’s safety”? But, of those same parents most, if not all, have accidentally fallen asleep by 4 or 5 in the morning when their kids friends’ head home, before passing out! And, I have to add that my three, then teens, had a huge party here one time, unbeknownst to us until after the fact, on one of the only times we had gone away on business for more than overnight. And, they are still catching hell about it from time to time 15 years later from us as to the seriousness of that action!
Law enforcement need to be more vigilant in making their presence known and not just on Friday and Saturday night, but 24/7. That way they are putting the word out that this avoidable behavior will not be tolerated. I understand the bad economy, but how can anyone put a cost on the heads of all those local folks we have lost so tragically?
Our prayers go to the Family and Friends of Nick Cargill.
Leanne Magincalda
Manteca
