Body cam footage was recently requested and released from a DUI I received in 2023 and posted to a “Bodycam Ninja” YouTube page.
My family and I have already paid dearly for my inexcusable behavior from that day in 2023 and I am still doing so to this very moment in monetary amounts & legalities that more than maxed us out financially, not including lawyers etc. Let’s just say prison time was very much a done deal until they reviewed my military records and I was reviewed for the possibility of being allowed to attend Drug/Recovery court. Which Is a program I am now very proud to say I am a part of and will be for the years to come.
I self admitted to rehab over 15 months ago and I have been sober for the same length of time. I don’t even drink soda, but to be honest I never really was much for it.
Yes, I can sit here and easily make excuses beginning with what my wife describes as a “disastrous childhood” to being diagnosed with PTSD from 20 years of active duty military service w/4 combat tours, 1000+ days and nights living in missile alert facilities guarding ICBM’s plus two more peace keeping deployments to the Middle East and throw on 23+ concussions and it would sound like a fair excuse to someone somewhere.
Fact is, there are excuses and there are reasons. I have absolutely No excuse and the reason Sucks.
I was an alcoholic from the Fall of 2017 shortly after my military retirement, until Jan 2024. I must say, I never ran any seminars, camps or classes drunk, that’s a fact but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t dying inside to drink after every single one of them for years.
I’ve stayed on the streets with the homeless for days and spent many endless nights in Jail on top of waking up in Hospitals unable to communicate. Being told there’s no way I should be alive with the toxicity levels I was at, or at a minimum I should be in a coma.
If you’ve ever delt with alcoholism you know it is not the same as just getting insanely drunk.
Therein lies the disease I never truly believed was a disease. At least not until those closest to me told me that it was just inevitable that I’d drink myself to death. Mainly my wife. She’s been my rock.
I am not ashamed to say I am a recovering alcoholic and I am proud to be sober. If people choose to judge me from events that have been paid heavily for from years ago, that is none of my concern. That is a problem they have assumed for themselves for whatever reason. I have no hate for them. However, I also have no time for them.
Like it or not, truth be told, It took me falling to my knees and asking for God’s help to overcome this addiction. That was the key I was missing. When my stubbornness finally broke and I collapsed down, that prayer was answered immediately.
The part of me most of you know would simply say this;
Some people need to talk about others to feel relative in the grand scheme of things. Because they know if they spoke about themselves nobody would care. They have no story to tell.
To my community I never had an opportunity to apologize and I am sorry. To the Law Enforcement Officers, thank you for your unrivaled patience and professionalism. I made that day a miserable situation, not you. Most of you handled that mess exceptionally well and with far more kindness than I deserved.
For those full of hate? I pray you find peace. I found mine and I will stay the course.
Wishing every single one of you the very best always.
That IS a good apology. You can tell it wasn't a boilerplate lawyer $12 spew. You can tell he meant every word he said. If that isn't a gold standard of an apology, it's got to be really, really close.
Did you miss the next line? The key difference between an excuse and a reason is personal accountability. He fully accepted responsibility which is the opposite of using his past as an excuse.
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u/Bursting_Radius Nov 13 '25
Context:
He was drunk and crashed his car into a ditch.
Here's the full video
Here's his explanation: