Harrison Co. Sheriff’s Dept. Supports Drive Sober Campaign

Each year in the United States, more than 10,000 people die on our roadways due to impaired driving. Throughout the month of December, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department is participating in the national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign.

David Hale, now a Gulf Coast representative of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, spends his days in a wheelchair because of a decision he made when he was a teenager. Hale was just 16 years old when he got in a drunk driving accident, paralyzing him from the chest down. Hale says, "Doing 120 miles an hour around a caution curve and my life as I knew it was over because I decided to make that decision to get behind the wheel drinking and driving."

Hale tells News 25 his decision to drink and drive did not just change him physically, but tremendously affected him emotionally as well. Hale also says, "I lost about ten years of my life due to depression and different things and it was just because I felt like there was no reason to live anymore. Now I know that there is so much more of a reason to live. It wasn’t the end of my life. It was the beginning of a brand new life."

Hale has recently gotten involved with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and is dedicating his life to tell his story and help people from making the same life altering decision he made so many years ago. Hale closes, "I just want to push the fact that if you’re going to drink, drink responsibly and do not get behind the wheel of a car and take your life, your family’s life, someone else’s life, or anything like that whenever you can stay exactly where you are."

Last year in Mississippi, there were 3,240 alcohol related crashes. Hale fully supports campaigns like Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, aimed to prevent accidents like his. Until January 1st, the Sheriff’s Department will have extra deputies on the roads, enforcing the state’s D.U.I. and seatbelt laws.