Married Couple Killed after Alleged Drunk Driver Slams into Parked Tractor-trailer
According to KWQC, a married couple was killed after the driver of the vehicle they were in crashed into a tractor-trailer parked on the shoulder in Lee County, Illinois, on Wednesday morning.
Driver Faces Several Charges
Rusty L. Garner, 44, was driving on Interstate 39 southbound with two passengers – 34-year-old Travis D. Sansoucie and 43-year-old Pamela A. Sansoucie. Officials arrived on the scene and discovered that Garner, allegedly driving drunk, hit a semi that was parked in the shoulder of the interstate at around 1:54 a.m. local time.
KWQC reports that the Sansoucies were killed in the wreck. Garner was airlifted to St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford for treatment, reports KWQC.
Illinois State Police have charged Garner with DUI, improper lane usage, driving while license revoked, and illegal transportation of alcohol. The state police are in the process of reconstructing the accident scene and the investigation into the fatal wreck is ongoing.
Alcohol-impaired Driving Statistics
The following information is provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):
- In 2014, 9,967 people died in alcohol-impaired-driving
- An average of 1 alcohol-impaired-driving fatality occurs every 53 minutes.
- Alcohol-impaired-driving crashes accounted for 31 percent of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States in 2014.
- Of the 9,967 people killed in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes, 6,391 were drivers with BACs of .08 g/dL or higher
- The estimated economic cost of alcohol-impaired-driving crashes in the United States in 2010 (the most recent year for which cost data is available) was $44 billion.
