Joe's Myspace page
..h 2004 I graduated the police academy. I graduated top of my class winning 3 out of the 6 awards issued at graduation. My whole life I know I wanted to be a cop and my dream had finally come true. I worked on the streets of the lower 9th ward of New Orleans for three months. During this time I started to make a few changes in my life. I stopped drinking and driving! I was a big stickler for having a D/D. Living in New Orleans I did a lot of partying. On March 13,2005 my good friend Jamie called me up and asked if she could come out with me. Of coarse I told her yes and I agreed to pick her up that night when she was ready. We went out with a bunch of friends to a local bar/club. At the end of the night we went to the the Lakefront to watch the sunrise. While we were there Jamie started to get sick and throw-up. It was now 05:00am. I decided it was best to get her home. We got into the truck and Jamie was hanging out the window trying to get fresh air. When I started to back out of the parking lot I was backing up to fast. As I was backing out a girl ran across the parking lot right behind me. I reacted by jerking the wheel of my truck to the left(to keep from hitting the girl). Since my truck was taller than it was wide it rolled to the passenger side killing Jamie. I climbed out and ran to the other side where she was laying half ejected from my truck. I saw her lifeless body and fell to my knees. I called the police and sat by her side running my fingers through her blood soaked hair. When the police arrived I was pryed from her side, arrested, and charged with vehicular homicide(which in Louisiana holds a mandatory two year jail sentence). I was put on the news, not as a awarding winning police officer but as a criminal in an orange jump suit. While in jail my hands were cuffed to my waist and my ankles were shackled. My picture on the evening news while I sat in disbelief. The faces of some of the people I had just arrested days before staring at me letting me know it would be a long time before I was out. I'm telling my story publicly for the first time in hopes that maybe, just maybe, Jamie dieing might spare a life. To drink and drive is not worth it. Like I said earlier I had become a stickler for having a D/D. The first time I decided to drive after a few drinks my best friend, someone I loved more than anything in the world, was killed. Now I serve the remainder of my time on parole struggling to find a decent job and trying to live what is left of my life as fast as possible so I can see her again.
