Survivors warn of DUI's tragic toll

Marion "Paul" Hendrix had been drinking and shooting pool all night when he tried to drive home around 4:30 a.m. Dec. 30.

Hendrix, 20, was only five miles from his home on Johns Island when his vehicle ran off the road near the intersection of Plowground Road and Sea Island Estates Drive. His vehicle hit a tree, and Hendrix suffered fatal injuries.

Through his friends mourned his death, two of them have since been arrested for DUI, said Kelly Steed, husband of Hendrix's mother Elizabeth Steed.

"It's like they're not getting the message. I don't understand it," he said Friday as officials announced the kickoff of the annual statewide Labor Day DUI enforcement effort.

About 400 people die each year in DUI-related crashes in South Carolina, a number that law enforcement hopes to reduce during the "Sober or Slammer" campaign, which runs through Sept. 1. The number of deaths is sufficient to fill one new cemetery each year, said Amy Caldwell, grants administration manager for the S.C. Department of Public Safety. Officials announced the beginning of Sober or Slammer against the backdrop of Carolina Memorial Gardens cemetery on Rivers Avenue in North Charleston.

During last year's Sober or Slammer enforcement period, 23 of the 49 fatal crashes that occurred statewide were DUI-related, S.C. Highway Patrol Cpl. Paul Brouthers said. The DUI crashes killed 24 people, according to preliminary statistics.

The Highway Patrol will triple manpower in some locations this year, Brouthers said. Officers will not issue any warnings.

"Before you get behind the wheel, you need to think of the personal cost," Brouthers said.

An emotional Elizabeth Steed recalled her son's love of football, the cello and guitar and how he wore flip-flops year-round. People gravitated toward him, she said.

"I wish with all my heart I could introduce you all to him today," she said, then held up a photo album bearing her son's picture on the cover. It is all she has now.

After the television cameras had stopped, a tearful Steed embraced her husband and, with hope in her voice, said, "Somebody will see this tonight and they won't drink and drive."

Reach Nita Birmingham at 937-5433 or nbirmingham@postandcourier.com.