Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Jacquieline Saburido


"Not everyone who gets hit by a drunk driver dies".

This will be the first thing you will notice when you visit Jacqueline Saburido's website http://www.helpjacqui.com/...
Jacqueline was returning back to her home with friends after attending a birthday party at Austin. Reginald Stephey, a 17-year-old high school student, was on his way home after drinking beer with his friends at a party. Reggie's GMC Yukon veered into the Oldsmobile carrying Jacqui and the others. Saburido was left to burn for around 45 seconds as the flames engulfed the vehicle. Her face was totally disfigured and she needed 40 operations to ensure survival, including Cornea transplant. Reggie was sentenced to two concurrent seven-year prison sentences inside Huntsville Unit and was fined $20,000.
Jacqui started her campaign against drunken drive. She is most well known for a commercial in which she holds a pre-accident photo of herself in front of the camera, which she lowers to reveal her disfigured face and says, "This is me, after being hit by a drunk driver". When asked why she appeared in the campaign, Saburido stated "I feel very good to do it because I know people can understand a little more what happened to me -- why my life changed completely. So I think for me, for everybody, it's a good opportunity".
Saburido and Stephey met for the first time after his trial and conviction in 2001. Stephey later stated that "What sticks out in my mind is, 'Reggie, I don't hate you.' It's really touching someone can look you in the eyes and have that much compassion after all that I have caused". He was released from Huntsville Unit on 24 June, 2008. Jacqui stated, "I don't hate him, I don't feel bad because he's out, he can reconstruct his life again".
Its hard to forgive a person after he had destroyed your entire life. But Jacqui did this and she is continuing her campaign against drunk driving from her home at Louisville, Kentucky.
Do Not Drink N Drive.....

2 comments:

  1. Yes ArVi.. This is an extremely important crisis faced by people all over the world day to day.. More strict rules like invalidating the license and/or imprisonment should be implemented whosoever may be the drunkard :-(

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  2. yes vallab... Only solution for this problem is that everyone should follow the rules...

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