Austin Police Commander [BAC .33] and her husband [BAC .24], a retired detective, who died in a motorcycle crash this weekend, were legally drunk at the time of their crash
Hoodoo
12/15/2004
http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=127159
The Austin Police Commander and her husband, a retired detective, who
died in a motorcycle crash this weekend, were legally drunk at the
time of their crash.
Cmdr. Shauna Jacobson and her husband Kurt, ran their motorcycle off
Texas Highway 71 in West Travis County Saturday night near Bee Creek –
just a short distance from a bar they were visiting.
Kurt Jacobson was driving the bike.
Austin Police Department Chief Stan Knee said Jacobson's blood alcohol
level was .24, which is three times the legal limit of .08.
Shauna Jacobson's level was .33, more than four times the legal limit,
and a fraction away from "alcohol poisoning."
Knee said Shauna Jacobson was one of the best police officers he's
ever worked with, and her husband also served with honor before
retiring.
Still, he knows they were breaking the law.
"I think everybody in this room wished it didn't happen, but we need
to realize that it did happen. There's an expectation in the community
that we follow the law. That's my expectation and I believe the
expectation of everybody in this department," Knee said.
The night started out as a benefit for an APD officer with multiple
sclerosis.
"I said, 'Well, let's do something. I didn't do it. The party came in
here. And, I donated a full barbecue benefit at $10 a plate. And every
plate went to the lady," said Bobby Joe Bailey the owner of Cedar's
Bar and Grill off of Highway 71.
More than a hundred people came out, most were APD officers.
At that party, Kurt Jacobson drove his motorcycle into the bar and did
a burn out on Bailey's floor tiles.
"He throttled it out … Finally, when I could say something to him, I
said, 'You need to get that thing out of here,' " Bailey said.
The department will go through administrative review to decide if any
other officers there violated policies, Knee said.
Though Bailey said he is haunted by the accident, he hasn't given up
on helping.
"I was trying to do something good and it turned into a fiasco. Would
I do it again? I tried to dodge the bullet, but yeah, I'd do it
again," Bailey said.
Funeral services for the couple will be Thursday.
- - -
Caption and address of photo on webpage:
The burnout left in Cedar's Bar and Grill by Kurt Jacobsen.
http://www.news8austin.com/media/2004/12/16/images/01moto.jpg
Data regarding related media content:
WATCH THE VIDEO
Jacobsens were drunk
Both Kurt and Shauna Jacobsen were well over the legal limit of blood
alcohol content.
Hoodoo
> The Austin Police Commander and her husband, a retired detective, who
> died in a motorcycle crash this weekend, were legally drunk at the
> time of their crash.
> Cmdr. Shauna Jacobson and her husband Kurt, ran their motorcycle off
> Texas Highway 71 in West Travis County Saturday night near Bee Creek –
> just a short distance from a bar they were visiting.
> Kurt Jacobson was driving the bike.
> Austin Police Department Chief Stan Knee said Jacobson's blood alcohol
> level was .24, which is three times the legal limit of .08.
> Shauna Jacobson's level was .33, more than four times the legal limit,
> and a fraction away from "alcohol poisoning."
Follow-up article:
12/17/04
http://kxan.com/global/story.asp
Video Available
Sign Posted At Crash Site Removed
The drunk driving wreck that killed a popular Austin Police
couple is sparking new controversy throughout the city from the
toxicology results that show Kurt and Shauna Jacobson were drunk
when they crashed their motorcycle to a disturbing sign planted
at the site of the crash.
No doubt emotions are running high at the police department. APD
Chief Stan Knee will begin his own administrative inquiry
sometime next week asking if any off duty police officers at the
bar that night tried to stop the Jacobsons from drinking and driving.
Now what many call a disrespectful sign was placed at the actual
site where the Jacobsons died.
A member of the law enforcement family took the sign down
immediately after he saw it. The sign read quote "These people
died because they acted outside of the law."
The neon orange sign right next to crosses at the crash site set
off a flurry of outrage.
"Just outraged that people would desecrate a place of honor in
memory of two people that literally devoted their lives to this
community. To me it was trash on the side of the road that needs
to be thrown away," Brent Christensen, friend of the Jacobsons, said.
It is not known who put up the sign or when it was posted.
The sign is gone but the division in the community on who is to
blame and what should have happened is continuing.
--
Oh, smell your harmonica. Go on, smell it son. - Johnny 'Guitar'
Watson