Meet 39 y/o Stephen Martin of Phoenix, AZ. That's his mug shot below...
Stephen was apprehended by Phoenix cops lying upon the paved highway behind his damaged SUV which had been driving southbound, in the wrong direction, at approximate;y 1:00 am on Tuesday, January 27th, 2015, on northbound Interstate 17 when he collided with a vehicle which was being driven in the correct direction by 26 y/o Megan Lange, a 26 y/o mother of two (2) boys (Sean, aged two (2) years and Miles, aged six (6) months), who was on her way home from work, having just finished a shift as a an emergency dispatcher for the Phoenix Fire Department. Megan had just returned to work after maternity leave and is pictured below with her family...
Stephen registered a BAC of nearly four (4) times the legal limit - .313 - and acknowledged to responding officers that he knew that he was drunk, that he shouldn't have been driving and that he was in fact going against Interstate traffic at the time of the crash. Megan was alone in her car but Stephen had a 38 y/o female passenger in his vehicle. Both Stephen and his female passenger (who indicated that she had advise Stephen that he was driving against traffic but that there was no place to turn around before the crash) received only minor injuries (as did another innocent third party driver who was sideswiped in the collision) but Megan was rushed to the hospital and clung to life for almost fifteen (15) hours until she was taken off of life support at approximately 4:00 pm Tuesday afternoon.
A Phoenix Department of Public Safety Officer may have prevented further tragedy as he observed Stephen's White Chevy SUV driving southbound in the northbound I-17 lane and managed to maneuver his vehicle into a position to slow down northbound traffic behind him, but Stephen was not one to slow down, driving around the PSO and sideswiping another vehicle before colliding with Megan's SUV.
Stephen claims that he had picked up his female passenger, a former girlfriend, after she had called him in a panic claiming that she had been raped and that her assailant was stalking her. He claims to have picked up the woman and then to have been fleeing from the pursuing alleged attacker when he inadvertently entered the wrong ramp onto I-17 "accidentally". However, his .313 BAC was no accident, nor is the fact that Stephen had a prior DUI arrest in 2006.
While Stephen sits in jail facing several charges including 2nd degree murder, Lange is remembered by her colleagues as "a profession [who] not only delivered babies over the phone [but who also] helped save many lives". Stephen's lawyer claims that the case resulted from an "unintentional act" and his father, while not condoning his son's decision to drive, hopes that "the [Lange] family will find it in their hears to some point to forgive him {Stephen} and understand [that Stephen was "trying to help his former girlfriend"]. In the interim the Lange family has set up a "GoFundMe" Page for Megan's surviving family, which can be found here.
Of course each individual is different but, generically speaking, to get to a .313 you have to have A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT OF DRINKS. Per the chart below (and noting that this is not a scientific fact and is just a tool for approximation) to get to a .313 a 100 pound man would have to have eight (8) beers, wine or cocktails, and the more you weight the more drinks that you need to get your BAC up there, so think about that for a moment (and then rest assured that unless he enters into a plea agreement Stephen's jury will become extremely well-versed on this subject when they are called to consider Stephen's decision to get behind the wheel prior to killing Megan).
With due respect to Stephen, his ex-girlfriend and his lawyer, there is no legally justifiable excuse for impaired / intoxicated drink-driving, and most especially so when your BAC is .313. Stephen's claim that he was "rescuing" his ex from a psycho rapist stalker doesn't cut the mustard either. To my mind the whole "psycho rapist stalker" story is both incredible and irrelevant. If the unidentified female victim truly perceived herself to have been in imminent danger from her pursuing psycho rapist stalker and if she had access to a phone why then would she call Stephen and not the police? I am pretty sure that there is no "Batman", moreover, even if there were a Batman then I'd bet the bank that his true identity wouldn't be Stephen.
When it comes to the subject of drinking and driving, the best advice that you are ever going to hear is: "Don't do it! Get a DD (Designated Driver), not a DUI".
Be smart{er than Stephen Martin}: Don't drink and drive, but, if you do, just say "NO{thing}", don't blow (in FL your 2nd subsequent refusal is a crime) and call me stat at 305-381-8686, 305-798-2220, **ARRESTED, **305DUI, **MIAMIDUI, **MIAMILAW or **HABERLAW.
Michael A. Haber, P.A.: Providing creative, effective and zealous criminal defense litigation services primarily in SoFlo since 1991.
At Michael A. Haber, P.A. "Its all about reasonable doubt"!
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