Athletes and DWI

    It’s happened again, another professional athlete was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Never mind that many other people were arrested that same night for the same charge. Never mind that some were not arrested and some were involved in traffic collisions, and some of those were no doubt fatal, a professional athlete was arrested for DWI! And it’s not enough to report that athlete’s arrest, an investigation needs to be done to find out where he was in the hours prior to his arrest.

    Now why is all that necessary? On the field of play in their sport of choice, they most likely excel at the game they are playing. However when it comes to operating a vehicle, they are most likely just as adept as the next person, and thus equally succumb to the affects of alcohol. Yet no in depth investigation is reported regarding the other people that were stopped and arrested for DWI. No one deems it necessary to find out where those people were in the hours before their arrest. If they were one of the drivers involved in an accident that resulted in injury that fact may make them newsworthy, but simply being arrested for DWI, not usually.

    Perhaps it’s because that athlete may have violated their respective league’s substance abuse policy? Then again, some of the other people arrested for DWI probably have substance policies from their employers. It is feasible that one of those other people arrested may be a health care professional that is going to be involved in the treatment of people injured in a crash involving an intoxicated driver. Wonder which one of those two preceding examples has a higher chance of impacting your life?

    Maybe it is because athletes are expected to be role models for youth? Why is that? What happened to the parents being the strongest role model in a child’s life? Is an athlete really a good role model? Think about it for a moment; when a professional sport goes on strike, what happens? If a game is postponed due to inclement weather, what happens? Nothing really if you think about it. Television stations have to find alternate programming to fill that time slot, and you can’t go and watch a game that is not being played, but really what is the impact?

    Now think for a moment about other professions, what happens if they go on strike or can’t make it to an incident? If firefighters take a day off, who is going to fight a structure fire, or remove a victim from the vehicle accident caused by the intoxicated driver? If the police are not around, who is going to assist at that accident scene, who would arrest the impaired driver? If the hospitals shut down for a day because the employees all took the day off, where are the victims going to be transported? Who is going to transport the victims if the paramedics are off that day too? If lawyers go on strike, who is going to file the lawsuit? It would appear that some professions provide more important role models than others.

    At the end of the day, we are all human, and some adults are going to consume intoxicating beverages. Some of those are going to make the mistake of operating a motor vehicle, some will get caught doing this, and tragically, some will be involved in accidents. All persons operating a motor vehicle have an equal chance of being involved in a serious accident, so they are all equally dangerous. So is it really so important to single out the athlete, when an impaired soccer mom could be driving her children home? DWI is a serious issue, no matter who is behind the wheel. A person stopped for DWI should not become more newsworthy just because of who they are.