WSP: Woman fighting for life after being struck by drunk driver
ARLINGTON Wash. -- A woman is fighting for her life in an Everett hospital after her car she was driving was struck by a drunk driver, the Washington State Patrol said.
The crash happened around 7 p.m. on SR-530 at 59th Avenue, just west of Arlington, according to Trooper Mark Francis.
Francis said a car driven by 55-year-old Mary Giebel was traveling east in the westbound lanes of SR-530 when it struck the victim's car.
The victim, a 59-year-old Arlington woman, was rushed to the Colby Campus of Providence Hospital in Everett with life-threatening injuries including several compound fractures, Francis said. Giebel was taken to Cascade Hospital with broken bones.
Francis said Giebel will be held for DUI vehicular assault.
The crash happened around 7 p.m. on SR-530 at 59th Avenue, just west of Arlington, according to Trooper Mark Francis.
Francis said a car driven by 55-year-old Mary Giebel was traveling east in the westbound lanes of SR-530 when it struck the victim's car.
The victim, a 59-year-old Arlington woman, was rushed to the Colby Campus of Providence Hospital in Everett with life-threatening injuries including several compound fractures, Francis said. Giebel was taken to Cascade Hospital with broken bones.
Francis said Giebel will be held for DUI vehicular assault.
can anyone tell me what ramifications a driver will incur upon the vehicular assault title being attached on her record? is there anything else to keep her from doing this again, learn her lesson and school others from doing the same? also pay the price for her harm to an innocent victim.Â
 @Becky More than likely all she'll get is fines and a period of license suspension. I sincerely doubt she'll be in jail longer than a night for permanently crippling and nearly killing a person. After all, drunks can't be held accountable for what they do...that wouldn't be 'fair'.
@mootpoint how sad but probably true.
the victim's car went over the bank otherwise it would absolutely look unrecognizable and by the way it was a miatta--not very concerned as to the damage of the perpetrator's verhicle as it is bigger and heavier and hence obviously won the fight . GrrrrrrÂ
It makes me sad everytime I read about a drunk driver putting someone in the hospital. Hope the victim will survive and recover from this tragic incident.
@Koreanman012 I get what you mean because it could be any of us and so completely unnecessary and can and should be avoided.
I think we need to reinstitute the public stocks. Maybe that would instill a sense of SHAME in these people. Nothing else seems to help...    Then, if there is serious injury or death resulting from the perps actions, prison...for a long time. Hope this poor woman makes a full recovery...
@SheilaKA her ankle is pretty shattered, we are hoping she can walk again. also thoracic vertebrae damage. we really appreciate your good vibes, helps a lot
thank you to all who care about the life of this victim as she is one of my friends!!!
 @Becky Prayers being said for your friend Becky! What an awful thing to have happened.
@LeslieLouAnn thank you Leslie Lou Ann!!! means a lot and I agree-most unfortunate.Â
Â
Komo needs to post a current picture of this Mary Giebel, so we know what these Menaces to society look like and they can be recognized !  Then they need to Lock her up for a minimum of Ten years for assault with a deadly weapon , the car. When she got drunk and drove, that car no longer was a mode of transportation, it became a weapon.
Keep printing such revealing stories. Â Ultimately they will force more meaningful consequences for such errant behavior.
Impaired driving needs to be changed from a cash-cow-misdeamenor for lawyers to the crime it is when someone is injured.
 @Citizen#3457899654 As long as lawyers, judges, and politicians continue to be perpetrators of these crimes, that won't happen. They wouldn't want themselves in jail for 10 years, after all.
I wouldn't mind ignition interlock devices in every vehicle. I know they can be tricked and all, but they at least remind the driver who thinks "he is still ok" that maybe he is not.
 @Komo Dragon So we all need breathalyzers on our cars because a percentage of the population drives drunk?
Â
No thanks. I have never had a DUI and do not care to be treated like a person convicted of one.
 @MarkMan thats the point ;-) If it is in every car, there is no special treatment for anyone. Think of it this way: about 1/3 of traffic fatalities are attributed to drunk driving. Many times, it's not the drunk but some innocent who pays for it. I never drink and drive, because I could not live with myself if I hurt someone else like this. At the same time, I accept that others do not apply the same standard. BTW, just because you never had a DUI does not mean you never drove intoxicated ;-) I am not suggesting you do, just saying that the chances of getting caught are relatively slim, if you look straight ahead, stay in your lane, and nothing unforeseen happens, something that would require a quick reaction to avoid a collision or what have you. I read somewhere that people drive drunk 60 times before they get caught. Statistically speaking. To me it's less than a little inconvenience to start my driving with a breathalyzer test - actually knowing that everyone else does would comfort me. Public safety, just like seatbelts, airbags, DMV car safety checks, car insurance, you name it.
 @Komo Dragon Totally agree!
Horrible! How awful to have your life nearly taken at 7pm on a street near your home. Â Reminds me of a horrible drunk driving accident that killed a man a few years ago who had just run to Costco near his house to get dog food.Â
Â
As far as the drink drivers, I think it's time for a new message. Threats of jail don't work. Designation drivers only work if people are going out in a group. Â It's like the message needs to be, "if you drink and you're going somewhere with alcohol, don't take your car." What I mean is that too many people head to bars or parties, and even though they know they'll drink they tell themselves "oh, I'll just have a drink or two and be fine to drive." But they get to their destination and their inhibition drops after the first beer or two, and they're pounding more. Â Alcohol immediately deadens the part of your brain that controls that type of judgment. Â So, instead of relying on yourself to stop, you need to just not take your car if you're going to be somewhere like that. Â It's not even the 'designated driver' thing, because that only works if you're out with a group. Â Most people who get in drunk driving accidents are alone. Â They drove to the bar, or the party, or a friends house TO party, alone. Â Â The key is, while you're sober, to accept the fact that you are not going to stop at one drink, and find another way to get there. Do NOT rely on being able to control your drinking and leave your car behind -- because you won't. Â Â Sometimes I think that the whole "designated driver" mentality gave people a pass to go to bars and get hammered. Â I mean, seriously.. if you go to bars and get so wasted that you can't drive, you should seek help with your binge drinking.Â
I pray for the victim, With sarcasm I say we should ban cars. That is the logic the anti gun crowd uses.
 @hoss2012 Without any sarcasm, this is the sensitivity that the gun crowd displays: bringing up a completely unrelated topic when someone's like is hanging in balance.
Â
And to address your point, I think most advocates of gun-control (see it's "gun control", not "anti gun"), would say it's ok for people to drive cars, but that you probably don't have any need for a tank or an armored vehicle to go about your daily life. See the difference?
 @SusieQ  @hoss2012 They are without a doubt their own worst enemies.
 @SusieQ  @hoss2012 Why should I not be able to buy a tank if I want one?
 @Donacita  @hoss2012 No, you tell me why you need one. NEED one.
55 years old and still acting like a little selfish idiot. Â Some people never learn. Â Lock her up for a very long time. Â There's no excuse for this behavior.
 @JusticeSeeker  No, the only answer is capital punishment.
The message Don't Drink and Drive is just not cutting it .
They need to ban assault vehicles.
@shamrock178 --- If they would have just passed an Assault Vehicles Ban in 2012, this never would have happened. ((((Sigh))))Â
Let's make a law if you are caught drunk driving you get a year in jail for the first offence. Wait we already have that on the books.
 @Telman@ it doesn't help in many cases, because once people start drinking they lose the ability to make that sort of value judgement.  The part of their brain that would rationally think that they'd lose a lot of they went to jail, is deadened with alcohol. That is why you see stories about drunks trying to run across freeways, or jump from 3rd story balconies. It makes you stupid.Â
 @Telman@ no money and no room at the gray bar hotel. We are running out of room for the really bad guys that need to be in there now.
Drunk drivers kill more people than gun related deaths. Just saying.
 @Thepriest Actually, that's not true at all. There are 12k automobile deaths each year and 20k "gun related deaths" each year. Drunk drivers are not responsible for all of the 12k automobile related deaths. So...not even close in fact. You got a lot of "likes" though. JUst goes to show people will believe anything and are too lazy to fact check before absorbing ignorance.Â
 @Thepriest Excuse me, I meant to say 30k gun related deaths, not 20k.Â
 @lakeview  @Thepriest the numbers I found indicated approx 32,000 deaths from automobile but that includes accidents and DUI in 2011.
 @Thepriest and drunks injure about 1000 to 1Â
This comment has been deleted
 @hoss2012 "pray" . prey is a victim of a hunter.
However, I appreciate your sarcasm about cars.
Thank you, I'm trying to figure out how to
 edit.
Thank you.
@hoss2012 Unlike the old comment system, there is no "edit" feature here. You have to copy the text of your post and then delete the post and then you can paste your text into a new post and edit it there.
This comment has been deleted
 @The WA Mama It's backwards.  She knew that she'd be getting drunk, and she chose to drive to wherever she was drinking.  One people like that have their first drink, there is no stopping them. And if they have a car in the parking lot and they're alone, they'll rarely leave the car behind. It's human nature.  The message for people like that is not "if you drive there, then don't drink" but "if you drink, don't drive there in the first place."Â
@The WA Mama The first question to ask is why do bars and taverns even have parking lots? The second question is why are police officers not stationed in every single one of them? Obviously people can still buy alcohol and take it home and drink it and then drive but just the sheer number of drunks driving away from bars is ridiculous.
@scared_citizen Most people are smart enought to not drink too much and/or have a designated driver. Its the few that choose not to that put all of us at risk.
Holy crap! One of my co-workers called in last night and said she was in a car accident. I hope this wasn't her....Â
 @HippoLady29 If your co-workers was one of these women, she would NOT have called you.... They're both in the hospital!
Â
Hope the victim pulls through.
Â
As to the perp... hope she pulls through to to face charges and NEVER drives a car again.
However, this being Washington state, I doubt that it'll amount to much, even though there are all these signs about "ZERO Tolerance" along the road.  Yeah, right.
For some reason Washington state is real soft on drunk driving, especially on first time offenders who then easily become second time offenders...
Â
We really need cars that detect alcohol on your breath and wont start if over .08 to stop this. Or maybe .05. Alot of people arrested for DUI really hate drunk driving and they just got real stupid drunk - especially if you get .30+ - it can be the same as sleep walking. Many years ago I got a DUI at .311 and I dont remember any of it at all. Only before and after.
 @Andy Pollow You are obviously an alcoholic with a .311. The average person would have passed out long before that.
 @Andy Pollow I feel like Im lucky I got arrested and no one hurt. I take the bus now and I really do prefer the bus. I like to read books on the bus.
@Andy Pollow ....and making DUI a three-strikes offense.