Bystander can't get keys, but gets child out of car
By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published February 22, 2007
ST. PETERSBURG - The woman stumbled out of the Macaroni Grill on Tuesday afternoon, followed by a little girl.
Assistant fire Chief Michael Wallace, waiting in his car to pick up some salads, saw the woman stagger through the parking lot.
She fell. She cursed. She got up, but soon collapsed again. Finally, she made her way to an old Dodge sedan with the young girl.
To Wallace, she was clearly drunk. And she was ready to drive away.
Wallace has worked in fire and rescue units for nearly a quarter-century. He's seen the aftermath of drunken drivers: mangled cars, broken bones, broken lives. He didn't want it to happen again.
Some restaurant employees came out. "Don't let her drive!" they begged the man in uniform.
Wallace, 51, an assistant fire chief with Seminole Fire and Rescue, didn't know the woman. But he could see she couldn't even walk in a straight line.
Wallace got out of his unmarked car and asked the woman to give up her keys.
"Don't drive. We'll get you a ride home," he told her.
The woman responded with an expletive and got in the 1990 Dodge. The girl followed her in.
Wallace tried reasoning with the woman, but she didn't listen. He tried reaching for her keys, but she swung at him and missed.
Wallace summoned his most authoritative voice and told the girl inside: "You need to get out of the car now."
The girl obeyed him. As she got out, the woman started the car and began driving through the parking lot, one car door still open, leaving the girl at the restaurant at 2302 Tyrone Blvd. N.
Wallace isn't a police officer. He can't arrest people. So he radioed fire dispatchers, telling them to contact police, and took off after the woman.
She hit a car in the parking lot, then struck another vehicle during the two-minute drive to her home. She pulled up to a condominium complex, got out of her car and collapsed on the lawn.
The woman Wallace followed was Michelle Angst, 32. The girl was her 9-year-old daughter, St. Petersburg police said.
Police took Angst to Ed White Hospital before booking her into the Pinellas County Jail on charges of child abuse, assault on a health care professional and probation violation. She remained there late Wednesday on $13,000 bail. The daughter is in the custody of her uncle.
Fast Facts:
What to do
If you see someone driving drunk or preparing to drive drunk, police say you should call 911 immediately.