MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A woman caught drinking and driving several times over the last two decades is in jail again, but there’s no telling if she’ll stay there this time.
Karen McBride was busted early Thursday morning and charged with her eighth DUI. Family members of people killed by drunk drivers tell WREG the system is failing everyone.
Ginger Bayless lost her son Ethan in a drunk driving accident.
“It’s sickening that someone is doing that without a care in the world for the innocent people around them,” she said.
Storie’s like McBride’s infuriate her.
McBride is no stranger to the sight of blue lights in her rear view window. She’s been busted for drinking and driving several times, but she’s only served minimal time for her slew of charges as a habitual offender. Bayless says the rules need changing.
“When you have multiple DUIs, you should have no license whatsoever and a mandatory extended jail sentence,” she said.
McBride got her first DUI in Shelby County back in 1991. A few years later in February 2007, McBride crashed into the back of a building in the Chickasaw shopping center off Poplar. Police found her passed out in the car with an empty can of beer nearby. McBride was later charged with DUI and refusal to submit to a BAC test. Court officials tell WREG she served 12 days behind bars.
In March 2010, police found her car crashed into the back of a MATA bus at Bellevue and Union. Officers found McBride slumped over the steering wheel, passed out. The court had suspended her license, but it didn’t stop her from getting behind the wheel. In this case, McBride was charged with driving under the influence as a habitual offender, but officials say the case was later dismissed.
Bayless pointed out these arrests only account for the times McBride got caught.
“They’ve done it multiple other times, and so for her to have been caught eight times, imagine how many time she’s done that. It’s scary,” she said.
Bayless hopes this arrest will scare some sense into McBride, and hopefully be enough to land her behind bars for more than just a few days. She’s due in court on February 6th.