Planning to have a few beers after work today? Ready for a night on the town, perhaps a few drinks, with friends this weekend?
Stop and think about how lucky one man, who allegedly was driving while intoxicated on Sunday, was that the consequences of his bad judgment were not worse.
Martins Ferry Police Sgt. Beth Scales had responded to a domestic disturbance that day. She had taken a frightened child to her cruiser.
At one point, Scale went back to the cruiser and reached inside for a cell phone. That placed her body in front of where the child was seated -- just as another vehicle, driven by the allegedly intoxicated man, slammed into the patrol car.
Scales was injured, but should recover quickly. Possibly because Scales' body protected the little girl, she was not hurt.
But both the child and the police officer could have been injured badly -- or worse.
All because a driver saw no harm in having a few drinks before getting behind the wheel. Think about that before you make the same mistake.