Drunk SUV driver smashes 17 cars before stopping

[Wonk]

June 15, 2004
SAN DIEGO -- A suspected drunken driver went on a rampage of destruction through the streets of Pacific Beach overnight, smashing 17 cars before he was finally arrested, NBC 7/39 reported.

Police arrested Matthew Lyman, 24, on suspicion of driving under the influence and multiple counts of hit-and-run driving.

Witnesses said that the destruction began some time after 2 a.m. Tuesday when a dark GMC Yukon SUV began smashing into parked cars. The driver went north on Mission Boulevard, turned east on Turquoise Street, south on Bayard Street and then headed back toward the beach on Tourmaline Street. All along the way, he smashed into cars parked at the curb, demolishing many of them.

Somewhere along the way, the Yukon's tires ruptured, but the driver continued driving on the bare metal rims of the wheels.

more...
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/traffic/3419879/detail.html

[Lucky Luciano]

1. I don't think I have ever been that inebriated...

Maybe he was trying to see how well he could drive while being both inebriated and blindfolded?

[DBoon]

2. Proving that SUVs are WMDs

Arrest him under the Patriot Act! Smashing 17 cars is an act of terrorism!

[Endangered Specie]

3. Sounds like something out of Grand Theft Auto

[slackmaster]

4. He drove right by two of my former addresses

What a clown!

Last time someone did a similar deed was an old Dodge Power Wagon IIRC. SUVs make good headlines, but as for weapons selection any big old truck or van could accomplish the same level of destruction. A large vehicle like that is too much for an experienced driver who is too intoxicated to be driving in the first place.

[iverglas]

5. and how embarrassing it is

that this particular large and extremely obnoxious vehicle (yeah, big ugly polluting steamrolling vehicles aren't obnoxious, people who drive them are) is named after a perfectly good Canadian territory. Surely that's some kind of copyright / trademark violation ...


A large vehicle like that is too much for an experienced driver who is too intoxicated to be driving in the first place.

A Honda Civic is too much for a driver who is intoxicated to be driving in the first place. :P

[Township75]

6. My impression of most SUV drivers is...

that they drive this well when they are sober. Usually because they are simultaneously messing with the stereo, talking on the cell phone , and maybe you could give them credit for driving their SUV.

It's a shame that people who suck at driving must have an enourmous vehicle to exacerbate the situation.

[Liberal Classic]

7. Amazing nobody was injured

Lock this fool up.

Once night a while back I was helping some friends move. I was riding in the pack of the truck holding stuff down when we were passed by someone obviously drunk. He was also riding on a bare rim on one of the rear wheels, which sent a shower of sparks over on me. He tried to pull into a gas station, but going up the driveway the rim cut into the asphalt and he got stuck until the police showed up. Years later there is still a gouge in front of that station.

[Wonk]

8. Pics here

(found in this lounge thread)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x1299323

http://paul.hillman.net/cars.html

This is how it ended


REALLY high-res versions of them can be found here
http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~andy/cars/cars.html

[Tamiati]

9. Tell me why again

that this "drug" is legal??

Yet, marijuana which has not known to have killed anyone is Class 1 controlled substance??

PLEASE, this is really chapping my hide ya know.....

[slackmaster]

10. Why did you put the word drug in quotation marks?

:shrug:

[Tamiati]

11. Good ??//Emphasis perhaps but

Probably because most Americans still do not accept that alcohol is in fact the most available & legal drug available.....

As a matter of fact I had a similar discussion with a gentlemen from DE who said that it was used in (get this) the IV's that one receives in the hospital.....(nonsense, of course as IV's are mostly glucose)and then went on to debate with me that it was not a man made chemical....which of course I disagree with. It is a rather natural process that man has improved upon in the distilling process.....

However, it is still a drug made by man & one of the oldest that we have.

[slackmaster]

12. You're among friends and enlightened folks here

I think few if any contributors to this forum would question the fact that alcohol is a drug.

[Tamiati]

13. Good to be

home....

have been looking for DU for sometime (metaphysically speaking of course).....really I remember DU from the 60's, so when finally I became so fed up with the BS of what's been going on with all of it....I remembered.....

[TX-RAT]

15. Legalize Marijuana and outlaw alcohol

Might stop about 70% of all domestic disturbances and about 50% of all vehicle accidents. And just imagine what would be saved in alcohol related medical expenses.

[FeebMaster]

16. Outlaw alcohol?

Haha. I think they tried that once.

[TX-RAT]

18. Yea, Lets start that war again.

Seen how far it got us the first time.

[FeebMaster]

19. If only people could figure out

that the drug war is no different.

[TX-RAT]

20. Not that often we agree,

But todays the day.

[enfield collector]

17. we tried making alcohol illegal once before

and it didn't work. i agree that marijuana should be legal and the sale controlled and taxed.

[TX-RAT]

21. What'cha gonna do?

Wish i had an answer.

[enfield collector]

22. it's going to be one big windfall tax bonanza for sure,

it could probably fund the whole National Health System that we need.

[mosin]

14. GMC

That's one tough truck. GMC could use that in a new advertising campaign. "Tough enough to smash 17 cars and keep going."

Obviously, the driver should be locked up for a good long time. :eyes:

[gatlingforme]

23. I can't imagine being that drunk. You would have thought he

would have passed out before he got into the truck??