lucky

On our last morning on Kaua'i we got up, finished packing, and checked out of the hotel then headed to Lawai to pick up our manju order and breadsticks.  We then set off for Lihue, with every intention of hitting Hamura's for saimin, which I'd been looking forward to all weekend.  But after turning onto Kress Street, we saw Lihue BBC Inn and wound up there.  I was happy with my shrimp scampi but Darrell and Ryan were disappointed.  We should have gone to Hamura's.  Oh well, next trip!

We were a little early for our flight but it was a good thing we got there when we did.  There was a long line to get through the TSA checkpoint.  There must have been a United Airlines or other big plane there so lots of people waiting to get through.  They also do full body scanning there which was helpful for me since I always have to have extra screening with the wand.  The gold Hawaiian bracelet on my right wrist doesn't come off and I set off the metal detector.  Lucky I don't know what I look like on the other side of the scanner!

We got back from Kaua'i safely.  Ryan went home to his house and I spent the afternoon doing laundry and relaxing.  Then I got a call from him around 7:20 p.m. and knew right away something was wrong.  Ryan had been going out with Ka'ala to get something for dinner and was stopped at the stop sign going out to the main road in his neighborhood when some guy made a wide turn into the same road and side-swiped Ryan's car. The truck took out the drivers side mirror and scraped the whole drivers side of the car.  Luckily Ryan and Ka'ala were ok but I could tell Ryan was shook up and upset.  I jumped in the car and got there to find them parked on his street with a police officer on the scene.  I parked and walked over to where Ryan was standing with his car and passed an old guy who was muttering things like, "everything is fine."  And I could smell all the booze on him from 10 feet away!  Ryan was all, "I don't want to get him in trouble...he's like my friends' uncle.  His son went to Kamehameha..."  I told him that he could have killed someone driving drunk like that.  Ryan was lucky.

I told Ryan that this is what I've been talking about all along...when I worry about him driving, it's not necessarily that I'm worried about HIS driving.  It's all the OTHER drivers I am terrified of.  He's living away from home.  I don't know what he's doing all the time.  But if I know that he's not home when I go to bed, I ask that he text me when he gets home so that when I wake up in the middle of the night, I'll know he got home safely.  He has already lost one classmate to a car accident.

When I got there, the police officer was waiting for another officer to bring the DUI kit.  In the meantime, he was testing the guy for DUI - walking, touching his nose, etc. and it was pretty obvious that he was impaired. They finally got the Breathalizer and tested him, then cuffed him and put him in the squad car.  They asked Ryan for a statement and that's when we found out that after the accident, the guy told Ryan to follow him home since he lived right around the corner and they were blocking the entrance to the street anyway.  Instead of exchanging info right there in front of his house, the guy went into his house and didn't come out for a while (Ryan said maybe 10-20 minutes).  According to the police officer, this totally invalidated the Breathalizer and they couldn't book him for DUI.  The guy could now argue that he went into his house and drank some beers then came back outside, so the Breathalizer results are from that.  It wouldn't prove that he was drunk when he hit Ryan.  The guy mentioned having prior DUIs so he knows how to get around the laws.  So infuriating!  What makes it worse is that he lives on Ryan's street and this could happen again!  (The guy at the rental car place told me about another incident where someone was stopped for a DUI and then drank a beer that he had open in his car.  He couldn't be tested for DUI but was only cited for having an open container of alcohol in the car.  Chronic drunk got away with it because he knows the tricks.  That means that we all need to be extra cautious and SCARED while driving because of these jerks.)

Ryan was having some pain in his back and neck so I insisted on taking him to the ER to have him checked out.  Luckily he was ok.

And lucky for us the guy didn't dispute the claim when our insurance company contacted him so Ryan's car was repaired and the ER visit was paid for.  We were inconvenienced and I had $180 out of pocket expenses because I chose to take the insurance from the rental car company, but at least Ryan is safe.