The ice cream truck driver wasn’t just selling just ice cream!
Amazing Antics: Stories of Alcoholism-Driven Behaviorsâ„¢
Too many beers in the ice-cream truck
“DING-A-LING: Denell Heller was watching out her New Berlin, Wisc., window and commenting on the irritating tune spewing from an ice cream truck as it drove by: “Pop Goes the Weasel”. When she saw the driver toss something on her lawn she called the police. “I told them I don’t want him in my neighborhood if he’s going to litter,” she said. An officer stopped by and picked up the object — an empty malt liquor can — and tracked down the treat vendor nearby. David A. Blundell, 43, admitted tossing the can, but insisted he had only drunk one beer, for breakfast, two hours before. Police say Blundell, a registered sex offender, failed a field sobriety test and blew .23 percent on a Breathalyzer test. He was charged with drunk driving — and littering — and released on bail. When he didn’t show up for court to face the charges, a warrant was issued for his arrest. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)… And when the police catch up with him, they’ll pop the weasel.”
This story is a classic in the annals of alcoholism for a number of reasons. First, Blundell was driving an ice cream truck. Someone had to hire him, numerous children — often with parents in tow — must have been in close contact with him, and countless other drivers, along with many law enforcers had probably spotted him committing a violation, driving recklessly or acting inconsiderately. It is incredible that SOMEONE didn’t report him before Heller did.
Second, he littered. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study of driving misbehaviors and likelihood of DUI cited in my book Get Out of the Way! failed to link a number of key behaviors that may be excellent indicators of DUI. Because it indicates a mindset of “I can do anything I damn well please, regardless of how it may affect others,”littering is at the top of the list.
Third, Blundell minimized, insisting he had only one beer. He just didn’t explain it was a 2 1/2-gallon beer (the amount needed by a 200-pound man over two hours for the BAL to reach .23 per cent). At least he admitted it was his breakfast beer (maybe he poured it over his cereal).
Fourth, Blundell is a registered sex offender. I’ve been hypothesizing for some time that most sex offenders are alcoholics. However, because reporters, biographers and historians have little or no understanding of the role alcohol and other drug addiction plays in causation of misbehaviors, including sexually based offences, my assertion cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. However, this little incident buttresses the idea.
Fifth, this could have ended far more tragically than it has thus far. The culprit is an alcoholic sexual offender driving an ice cream truck for God’s sake. How many more chances will society give him to wreak havoc in someone’s life? And yes, he is out on bail.
There is something seriously amiss both with Mr. Blundell and a criminal justice system that has so far been unable to properly deal with him. He was convicted of DUI in 2001. He has been fired from his job, but it’s not the first time. Just last April, he was fired from another job — also driving an ice cream truck — because, according to the office manager of the prior firm, “every day he came here with something wrong.”If employers were able to share information, we would increase the odds that the private sector might be able to do for Mr. Blundell what friends and law enforcers have so far been unable: administer enough pain to inspire him to try sobriety.
(Story from “This is True,”copyright 2005 by Randy Cassingham, used with permission. See http://www.thisistrue.com for free subscriptions.)