According to the authorities, if you or anyone is injured in the car crash, you need to call 911. This is the fastest way to report the accident and get emergency medical help on the way. Even if you think an injury is minor, call 911. Unfortunately, this man, Mark, awoke to a scene nobody wants to experience. His girlfriend was dead, but hat he did before calling the police would be the last thing anyone in this situation would think of doing. Mark and his girlfriend, Ciera, were on a joyride. Authorities said that the narrow, one lane dirt road was tough to negotiate for anyone, but when alcohol and excessive speed are added into the mix, it’s all the more dangerous, especially considering there are no guardrails to prevent cars from falling off the edge.
Tragedy struck when Mark misjudged a turn on the dirt road. The SUV rolled off the road and fell about 200 feet into a ravine, ejecting his girlfriend from the vehicle. He blacked out from his injuries and didn’t come to until the following morning around 5 a.m.. As he looked around, he realized what happened. Then, he found his girlfriend on the ground outside the vehicle. Mark, who had been driving on a suspended license, felt Ciera’s body which was cold to the touch, and he realized that she had died.
But, before calling the police, he popped open a couple of beers, which he had in the SUV. He drank ‘cold ones’ as if it was a casual afternoon on the porch and his girlfriend’s dead body wasn’t in sight. About an hour and a half after waking up and refueling his beer thirst, Mark wandered into cell range and called 911. He told the dispatcher that he believed Ciera was dead since his efforts to wake her failed. Emergency responders arrived at the scene and confirmed her death. Police recovered an empty beer case and noted there were partially consumed beer bottles strewn about the wreckage. Mark was taken to an area hospital and treated for his injuries, where he admitted to police that he had been drinking and caused the accident.
He was charged with DUI and negligent homicide for the dangerous manner in which he was driving, despite the fact that his blood-alcohol level at the hospital was 0.000. Unfortunately, he was only sentenced to 90 days in jail in lieu of a possible prison sentence for his part in the fatal rollover crash that left his girlfriend dead after Cierra’s own mother pleaded for leniency, according to reports. Although Mark was facing a third-degree felony charge of automobile homicide, along with a class B misdemeanor for driving with a suspended license and an infraction for improper lane use, a plea deal reduced the felony charge to a class A misdemeanor for negligent auto homicide to which Mark pleaded guilty.
