Talk of CNN: Drunk Driving in Tennessee
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now it's time for the Talk of CNN, where we find out what people across the country are talking about. Drunken drivers are the talk in Tennessee. For that we check in with Andy and Alison and the morning crew from radio station WIVK in Knoxville. Hello, again.</s>ALISON: Hi.</s>ANDY: Good morning. How are you?</s>COSTELLO: I'm fine. You know, we saw this grizzly video back in September. We're going to show our viewers once again.</s>ANDY: Yes.</s>COSTELLO: This is a teenaged driver who just left a bar and this was all caught on tape. And she's going to hit this police officer who's crossing the street. Very graphic, oh, it's terrible.</s>ALISON: Yes.</s>ANDY: It is.</s>COSTELLO: The police officer is OK now, though, right?</s>ANDY: Yes, that's right. You know, a lot of physical therapy, a lot of things going on. But there is a lawsuit pending, a $15 million lawsuit. The police officer is suing both the pub where she says the teenager was served and the girl who was driving the car at the time.</s>COSTELLO: What is the pub saying?</s>ANDY: Well, you know, they're saying that they didn't do anything wrong. That's, basically it's a he said, she said or he said or she said they said at this time, and the pub saying that, in fact, something ironic that we were kind of chuckling about this morning, it's not a funny story, but they're saying that when the girl came in, that they spotted her. She was drunk at the time and they tried to give her some food and some juice to sober her up. We were sickened.</s>COSTELLO: So they actually took the time to give her some...</s>ALISON: Yes.</s>ANDY: Yes, I don't know if you remember your college days, and I don't want to reveal too much of my past, but I can never remember anybody wanting, offering me juice at a bar when I came in, this kind of thing.</s>COSTELLO: So the teenager is totally denying that the bar owner even did this?</s>ANDY: No, the teenager says that she was served.</s>ALISON: Yes.</s>ANDY: The teenager apparently has struck a deal with the local officials here. We're not exactly sure what that is yet. But she says she was definitely served there. The bartender and the folks there are saying she was not. So it's a he said, she said situation.</s>COSTELLO: You know, this happens so often with young people. They find a bar that they can go into that will serve them.</s>ANDY: Yes.</s>COSTELLO: Did she use a false I.D.? Is she saying that the bar owners and workers knew she was under age?</s>ANDY: Yes.</s>ALISON: Now, apparently what they're saying is that, what she's saying is that she knew the bartender and they hooked her up with some drinks.</s>COSTELLO: Oh, she knew the bartender?</s>ALISON: Yes.</s>ANDY: Yes.</s>ALISON: And apparently she had done this in the past and knew that if she went to this bar that he would hook her up with some drinks, even though that she is under age.</s>ANDY: That's her story anyway.</s>ALISON: That's her story, right.</s>COSTELLO: What's the bartender saying?</s>ANDY: He's saying un-nnh (ph), no way, I didn't do anything like that. Remember the juice? I served you juice and gave you something to eat to sober you up. So, that's...</s>COSTELLO: That wasn't a vodka and tonic, that was a Pepsi.</s>ANDY: That's right. It was some orange juice and a steak, remember?</s>COSTELLO: Oh, it'll be interesting to see how it turns out. We're going to check back with you to see. Thanks so much for your input this morning. We sure appreciate it.