Detroit Family Of Bernice Jackson, Killed In July DUI Crash, Urges Caution This Labor Day
Niki Thigpen stood before reporters Friday and talked about a lesson her family thought they'd already taught each other: never let someone drive drunk. Her sister, Bernice Jackson, died anyway, killed July 2 in a crash police suspect involved an impaired driver.
"When we was growing up, and we were able to drink, we drank responsibly," Thigpen said. "We had a designated driver who couldn't drink. That was one of our biggest fears, taking someone from their family. And it's just ironic that that happened."
Thigpen and other relatives of Jackson spoke at a news conference two months after the crash, timing their appearance to the start of Labor Day weekend, one of the deadliest stretches on Michigan roads for alcohol related crashes. Detroit police used the same news conference to announce stepped up traffic patrols through the holiday, an effort officers say is meant to catch impaired and reckless drivers before they cause the kind of crash that killed Jackson.
The enforcement push follows a string of fatal crashes in Detroit around the Fourth of July, when investigators say several deaths involved drivers who had been drinking. Data compiled by the National Safety Council shows crashes tied to the Labor Day holiday have generally climbed over the past decade compared with other major holidays, a pattern police point to when explaining why they're adding patrols rather than scaling back after summer.
Officials asked drivers who plan to drink over the weekend to arrange a ride ahead of time instead of deciding after the fact whether they're able to drive. That could mean a ride share app, a designated driver or a taxi. AAA is again running its Tow to Go program through the holiday, offering free rides home, no questions asked, for drivers who have had too much to drink. The service can be reached at 855-2-TOW-2-GO.
Thigpen said her family used designated drivers for years before the crash and treated the rule as non-negotiable. She said she hopes other families make the same choice this weekend that her sister's family made growing up, rather than the choice police believe the driver in the July 2 crash made.
Detroit police have not released additional details on charges in the case as of Friday's news conference. The department said officers will watch for signs of impairment such as erratic lane changes, delayed reactions at stoplights and speeding, behaviors investigators say preceded several of the July Fourth crashes.
Thigpen said her family plans to keep speaking publicly about Jackson's death in the coming months. Detroit police patrols will continue through the Labor Day weekend.
