Minnesota state trooper Kristie Sue Hathaway and a woman who she once arrested for drinking and driving have made an unlikely friendship that spans 10 years.
When Hathaway arrested Amy Martin in 2012 after witnessing her swerving across the road, she found the mother with an open bottle of vodka in the vehicle and her baby girl in the back seat of the car.
It would have been a simple story, if not for its ending, or rather, new beginning. Faithwire reported that before Hathaway booked Martin, the state trooper told her,
"Please don't do this to your daughter. She needs a mom. I know because my mom left when I was 10."
Hathaway's words made an impact on Martin, who promised to return a year later sober. The state trooper did not think much of it until Martin returned a year later to surprise Hathaway with a medallion showing she had been alcohol-free for a year. That was when the pair struck a new friendship.
"She's part of my family now," Hathaway said of Martin. The two even attended each other's weddings. Martin also still brings Hathaway her annual medallion every year and the two swap the new one with the medal from the last year. The gesture meant so much to the state trooper that she brings the medallion in her shirt pocket every day.
"[Our friendship changed my life, for sure," Hathaway told KARE-TV. "It's been a really tough couple years in our field. There have been times when you kind of wonder like, 'Why am I in this job?' It reminds me of why. It gives me hope."
Meanwhile, Martin said that her arrest not only transformed her life, it saved it. She said, "If this wouldn't have happened, there is no question in my mind, I would not be here today. She saved my life."
Saved from a drunk driving incident
In October 2021, 100 Huntley spoke with Christine Mathews, a drunk driver who miraculously survived a crash and found herself being saved by Jesus. Mathews suffered a shattered hip, lacerated liver, brain injury, collapsed lungs, and a broken leg in a brutal car accident that left her in a coma.
She admitted she was dealing with sadness while drinking and "didn't believe in God at the time." When she got out of the coma, her sister read to her a book that talked about how God loved her and began to understand the peace that came with it.
DWI
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 28 people die everyday in drunk-driving crashes, amounting to about one person every 52 minutes. In addition, about one-third of all traffic crash fatalities in the U.S. involve drunk drivers, who have blood alcohol level or BACs of 0.08 g/dL or higher. Up to 10,142 perished in 2019 from these preventable crashes.
Forbes Advisor reported that the yearly cost of alcohol-related crashes is over $44 billion, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Latest data from the NHTSA also revealed that in 2017, 32% of all drivers involved in fatal crashes while driving at night were drunk.
