VOICES / A Forum for Community Issues : Community Interview : ‘A Drunk Driver Killed My Child’

While Americans end the summer with Labor Day festivities, Mothers Against Drunk Driving will work with law enforcement to help keep roads safe and alcohol-free. The job takes on greater importance during the holiday periods when revelers are more likely to drink and drive. The National Safety Council predicts 468 Americans will die on the nation’s highways this holiday weekend and 246 of those deaths will be alcohol-related. MAURA E. MONTELLANO spoke with Jan St. Michel, a Granada Hills mother whose child was killed by a drunk driver.

My 20-year-old daughter, Robin St. Michel, died in 1990 at the end of the July 4th weekend. She was coming home from a friend’s house at about 9 p.m., driving her brand new truck. She had just gotten on the freeway when a drunk driver in a van crossed a divider and hit her head-on. They were both taken to the hospital by helicopter.

Two days later, my Robin was removed from life support and died of massive head trauma. The other driver’s alcohol level was twice the legal limit. He survived the crash; he had severe head trauma. He was 37, had a wife and two small children.

It is every parent’s nightmare to get that phone call. It came at 11 p.m. When I heard that stranger’s voice saying that my daughter had been in a crash and please come to the hospital, my heart stopped. I’d never been so scared in my whole life. I can remember I had a little holy statue and I grabbed it and prayed all the way to the hospital. I begged God that she be OK. At the hospital I was told she was on life support and that she wouldn’t recover.

When I was in the hospital, the minister asked me to talk to the driver’s wife. I just couldn’t at that time. When I was told Robin was dead, the wife’s sister came and knelt at my feet and said, “My sister said to tell you how sorry she is. She said she wished it could have been him and not your daughter.”

The last I heard of the driver, he was put in an institution in San Diego. He suffered severe brain damage. No charges could be brought against him because of his condition. I never got my day in court, never had justice served. All I can say is life isn’t always fair. I had to learn over the years that I had to move on. I had to remember my daughter and the wonderful times we had together. I couldn’t dwell on trying to get revenge on the man who killed her. It wouldn’t bring her back.

Robin had an older sister, Jacquelyn. It was a devastating thing for our whole family. None of her friends had ever had anyone die. It was their first experience with losing a friend. They were very angry. When they went to see her car, they felt despair and helplessness.

Mothers Against Drunk Drivers called me while Robin was in the hospital. They asked if I was alone and if so they were ready to be at the hospital to be with me. Every day someone from MADD called to make sure I was OK. They never gave up on me. I didn’t want to talk to them because if I talked or went to see them, it would be admitting that my daughter died.

Finally, I joined group therapy with other people who had lost someone because of a drunk driver. I also got involved in personal therapy for parents who had lost children.

When my daughter was in high school, she was a member of Students Against Drunk Drivers. When her friends went out, she was the designated driver. She felt very strongly about not drinking and driving. It’s very important for teens to know not to drink and drive but also not to let their friends do it either. They need to support and encourage each other to do the right thing.

My message to people who drink and drive is a simple one: You are not only destroying your life, but that of your family and friends. Your actions affect so many, many people.