Chris Sandy, a 35-year-old ex-inmate must live the rest of his life based on a decision he made one Friday night when he was 22.
Sandy, like any other young person, was out partying — and drinking –with his friends. After tipping back his fourth straight drink in a short period of time, Sandy and his best friend decided to go to another party not far from where they were. In fact, Sandy said he knew the two-lane country road well, having traveled it many times before. He didn’t think twice about getting behind the wheel of his red Ford.
As Sandy laughed and joked with his friend, he soon exceeded the posted speed limits on the back country road. When he came up on what he called a “slow moving van,” he decided to pass it. Tragedy soon struck. He saw the headlights of an on-coming vehicle with its left turn signal flashing. He tried to swerve back into his lane ahead the van.
The last thing he remembered, he told hundreds of students who had gathered in the school auditorium to hear his story as part of Red Ribbon Week, a program that encourages teens to stay drug- and alcohol-free, was a flash of gold darting in front of him. And then a loud boom.
In a few seconds, he had lost control of his car and struck a gold sedan. Inside the car that split in two on impact carried an elderly couple on their way to visit their 12-year-old granddaughter. Their granddaughter never got to see them that night or any other night. Her grandmother was killed on impact, and her grandfather died later in the hospital.
When Sandy woke up in the hospital, he said he realized that in an instant, his life and the lives of his family and friends and the victims’ family and friends were forever changed.
Sandy plead guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide by DUI and was sentenced to serve eight-and-a-half years in a Georgia state prison.
Sandy told his audience, many of whom who are between the ages of 14-18, that one bad decision can alter a person’s life. He now devotes his life to telling others his story so they will not make the same mistakes.
If students thought Sandy looked familiar, they were right. His face was plastered all over the hallways for months in a “don’t drink and drive campaign” poster produced by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.