A grisly reminder of suspected drunk driving touches close to home

Over this past year, we have been digging into the on-going battle against impaired driving with stories, columns and editorials about the devastating effects having one too many can have on our society.
We had hoped to get through the year without an alcohol-related driving death in Dodge and Steele counties. But it appears our luck has run out. 
Once again, we’re sadly reminded of the horrible ramifications of drunken driving just as we have been so many times in the past. A grisly case out of Steele County appears to have claimed yet another life at the hands of a suspected drunk driver.
In October, emergency workers raced to a car fire west of Owatonna. After firefighters extinguished the flames and the smoke cleared, authorities found the charred remains of a man in the passenger’s seat. Investigators immediately began piecing together what happened. 
Though not many details had been released initially, last week’s criminal complaint against the suspected driver of that vehicle, who fled before emergency workers arrived at the scene, sheds some details on what took place in the hours leading up to the fire.
Peter Anthony Escobar, 24, has been charged in Steele County with felony counts of manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide. Authorities allege he was drunk when he ditched his vehicle into a soybean field and left his passenger, Herman Hernandez, 64, inside the vehicle to die. 
In the charging document, Escobar told authorities he had been drinking all afternoon at a watering hole in Albert Lea. He then took off for Owatonna some 30 miles away with another bar patron and somehow they ended up in the middle of a soybean field next to a drainage ditch. Escobar took off as the vehicle started on fire with Hernandez still inside.
As is the case with most DWI deaths, this particular incident is a tragedy that was totally preventable and did not need to happen. It just sickens me that we have lost another life to what appears to be someone’s reprehensible actions. 
The Hernandez family is now left grieving this holiday season the death of a loved one that should not have happened.  They’re not alone. Each year about one-fourth of the fatalities on our roadways are attributed to drunk driving. 
The carnage needs to stop and you could be on the front lines of helping make that happen just by taking some simple actions. 
With the holidays upon us, I hope this case will serve as a stark reminder for all of us to not jump behind the wheel of any vehicle after drinking excessive amounts of alcohol. Drunk driving should never be tolerated or condoned. As a society, each one of us has an obligation to make sure nobody hops into a vehicle to operate after drinking. 
The days of wink-wink when someone has had too much to drink and gets behind the wheel are long over. We need to do the right thing and prevent that person from driving. We all need to be responsible hosts by taking away the keys and providing sober cabs or giving the tipsy person a place to crash for the night. If you get on the road and suspect another driver may be intoxicated, call 911 to report the activities so an officer can check it out. 
Drunk driving is one of the greatest dangers to your safety. Be responsible. And go in hot pursuit of not letting your holiday celebrations—or any gathering any time of the year—end in tragedy.