ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – As millions of families prepare to hit the road for the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend, transportation officials, police, and safety advocates are focused on preventing drunk and impaired driving.
For former Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) Trooper Jeremy Potocki, the warning is not a matter of statistics—it is a lived reality. A drunk driver permanently changed his life and stripped him of years of memories.
‘47 Seconds’ to a life altered
Memorial Day weekend in 2014, then-Trooper Potocki pulled a driver over in south St. Louis County. Recognizing the odor of alcohol, he asked the driver to step out of the car.
“I asked the driver to step out of the car,” Patocki recalled. “I said, ‘Hey, let’s go over here in case we get hit, so we won’t get smashed between the two cars.’ While I was talking to him, 47 seconds later, we were hit by another drunk driver.”…