Ex-cop says he drank before fatal motorcycle accident

In many fatal accidents in Pittsburgh and elsewhere in Pennsylvania, alcohol is a factor. In many cases, the people who end up drinking and driving may not realize that they are inebriated — not that, if true, that is a valid excuse. There really should be no excuse for drinking and driving, particularly when the results lead to the careless loss of a life.

Even people who should know how alcohol affects people on the road — such as police officers — sometimes make bad choices that lead to tragic consequences. This appears to be the case in a 2010 motorcycle accident case that was considered in a Pittsburgh courtroom this week.

The accident occurred after a motorcyclist had consumed several beers. His wife-to-be and some of her friends were at a bachelorette party for his fiancée at a bar across town. After the man — at the time a Pittsburgh police officer — had consumed four beers over a two-hour period, he got a call from a woman at the party who was the designated driver for the group. She told him she wasn’t familiar with the neighborhood and wondered if the man could meet them at the bar and follow them home.

When the officer arrived at the bar, one of the woman at the party asked to ride on the back of his motorcycle; he accepted her request. The bike crashed a short while later and the young woman was killed. Officials said the officer and his passenger were both legally drunk — a fact that the man now acknowledges.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Former Pittsburgh officer says he was drunk in fatal cycle crash,” Liz Navratil, Oct. 1, 2013