Editor’s Note: This letter from Bert Alanko of MBA Insurance has been edited for clarity and punctuation in accordance with AP Style.
I’ve done it but will never do it again. I know that many of you have done it too.
For some of us, until things hit home, we just don’t understand, don’t get it. We do not feel it until it is right in our face. Well, it is in our face here at MBA Insurance. One of our close personal friends at MBA has had it hit home.
On Jan. 8 her husband, a police officer, who was making a routine traffic stop out on the freeway, if you are familiar, the 101 Freeway, when he was struck by a gentleman who was, by his own admission, texting at the time.
We all hear of these things in our own cities, happens all the time. I am here to tell you that when it happens to someone close to you it really hits home. It has ruined or altered the course and dreams, not only this young lady’s life and the life of their 10-month-old baby boy … (but it) is changing the life of her parents and her siblings. It also is having a profound effect on MBA’s staff as our hearts break for this young lady.
The gentleman that was texting while driving was 40 years old with a wife and two kids. He lives here in Scottsdale, Ariz., and is probably a regular guy. His life is screwed as he sits in jail, charged with three different counts.
So, I am writing this to tell you do not wait until it hits home for you or someone you care about. Please, if you do text while driving – Stop!
– Bert Alanko
GoFundMe donations to the police officer’s family can be made here.
To watch a video interview with the officer’s widow on Arizona Fox 10, click here.