Of all of Arizona’s odd laws, the one that applies to penalizing idiot drivers for getting stuck in washes and flooded underpasses is my favorite. If you somehow think it’s okay to drive through a water-covered area where water wouldn’t normally be, you deserve to get punished.
Recent information released by the Pima County Sheriff’s Office just proves my stance.
The PCSO announced Monday it had arrested two women for driving children through flooded washes in separate instances last week. The first involved Tiffany Sherman, 18, who called 911 last Thursday night to say her Buick was stuck in a wash on Sandario Road west of the Tucson Mountains. Oh, and she had her 1-month-old with her.
When deputies and rescue crews arrived they found the water had gotten up to Sherman’s hips, while her baby — wearing only a diaper — was swaddled in a blanket. Both were extracted without injury, but then Sherman was arrested on suspicion of child abuse and the child was turned over to its grandmother.
Then, on Friday morning, PCSO deputies and Drexel Heights firefighters had to rescue 29-year-old Edna Encinas and her three kids (ages 11, 6 and 2) after Encinas apparently decided the ‘ROAD CLOSED’ signs at Valencia Road and Camino Verde didn’t apply to her. Her Dodge got stuck in a wash, but instead of calling 911 she called a two truck, and after the tow truck driver quickly saw he had no shot of getting her out, he called 911.
All four passengers were rescued safely, after which Encinas was booked on three counts of suspicion of child abuse and another of reckless driving.
This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2012.
Small correction: it’s the Pima County Sheriff’s Deparment, therefore the correct initials would be PCSD, not PCSO. It hasn’t been the Sheriff’s Office in many years.
Although I sympathize with the notion that stupidity should be avoided in all things, it is a human condition that affects us all at times. I suggest instead a “Stupid Government Law” that would penalize local officials that allow unsafe conditions to arise every year and do nothing about them. There is an advanced technology called “culverts” – used in well run cities to eliminate flooded streets during storms. Perhaps we could install a few at locations that become dangerous in Tucson year after year. We could label the project “Sin Rios Nuevos” to organize the community against new rivers in our streets, fund it heavily to no effect and continue to blame innocent citizens – even charge them with crimes and ridicule them in local papers.
Sorry – just because the county, state, city, don’t have culverts in place doesn’t excuse the stupidity and arrogance of those who deliberately drive around barricades into danger. If you don’t follow the law, then you pay the price. Both of these mothers need to realize they and/or their children could have drowned as did the woman whose husband drove into a wash the other morning. Wake up!
People!! Get your heads out of your asses!! Stop texting, put the phone/computer down/newspaper down/ food down/makeup down and PAY ATTENTION TO THE DAMN ROAD!!! Put your children in the proper booster seats and MAKE SURE THEY ARE INSTALLED CORRECTLY!!! If you see a flooded road, sign or no sign, TURN AROUND OR WAIT!!! 10, maybe 30 min. will not ruin your life. Guess what? It may SAVE your life!! Last but not least…please turn on your lights!! Back in the day I work on an ambulance. I don’t know how many times I literally shoveled human flesh off the road and saw families instantly destroyed because they were selfish and didn’t take these simple steps. For God’s sake people…wake up and smell the coffee…but don’t drink it while driving!
“blame innocent citizens”? The only innocent citizens involved in these incidents were the kids. The drivers were stupid, reckless, and just downright irresponsible but they weren’t innocent.
Really, they’ve allowed culverts out into the general population? Oh Me, Oh My! Why they’ll save everything, think of the countless lives that will be saved if we just put culverts everywhere!!!! Some Moron’s Comment 1 month later: “Wait, what!!??, we have to pay $googleplex millions for thousands of feet of box culvert to span the ephemeral washes of Pima County? Whose stupid idea was that!?? Oh, mine? Nevermind, tell those idiots to buy an air boat!” (This is nothing compared to the time it will take to get 404 permits from the Army Corpse of Engineers, if you can get them at all…but I’m sure YOU know what you’re talking about. Don’t even get me started on the Nationwide General Permit process you’ll need to awaken to get anything done at just 1 crossing.)