Hell on wheels Published Sept. 15, 2016 By Tim Barela Torch Magazine JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas -- Sleep deprived and drunk, a 25-year-old Airman sets out on an ill-advised drive home. Going more than 30 mph over the speed limit and not wearing a seat belt, his ride ends with his car rolling and him violently ejecting through the sunroof. Emergency responders declare him dead at the scene. His grieving mother is notified later that same day. According to reports, the Airman worked a full day, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and then went to work out at the gym. He then stopped by his home before heading to his off-duty job at 7 p.m. to provide security for a local restaurant/bar. He got off work at 2 a.m. the next morning and proceeded to a bar/grill where he met friends to socialize, eat, and drink. According to witnesses, he left the bar at 5 a.m. and headed home. Traveling an estimated 77 mph in a 45 mph zone, the Airman struck a curb, lost control of his car, and hit a traffic sign, palm tree, and light pole. As the vehicle started to roll, the Airman, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the car. Emergency responders pronounced him dead at the scene at 5:35 a.m. His blood alcohol content measured .151, nearly two times the legal limit. “It’s easy to dismiss this guy as an undisciplined malcontent – someone with a death wish,” Dave Etrheim, Air Education and Training Command’s occupational safety manager, said. “But that’s simply not the case. By all accounts, he was smart, a hard worker, well-liked in his unit, and had positive goals and plans for the future. We lost a good troop.” “Drinking and driving is the worst crime committed by an otherwise law-abiding citizen because it is negligence that can take life,” he said. “In this day and age, there are so many negative connotations and severe punishments and consequences to drinking and driving – especially for military members. It’s just surprising it still goes on. But people think it won’t happen to them or they won’t get caught.” Etrheim said just as head scratching are Airmen who don’t buckle up. “There is so much information out there about the benefits of wearing a seat belt, not to mention it’s mandatory for Airmen,” the safety expert said. “But come to find out, this otherwise intelligent human being, had disarmed the seat belt alarm sensor in his car so it wouldn’t beep when he didn’t strap in … it appears he had made a habit of not wearing a seat belt.” “Based on the investigation, with all the other mistakes he made that night, had he just buckled up, the outcome could have been different.”