Man rescued from dangling truck appears in court
HILLSBORO, Ore. – The man who crashed his truck through a guardrail and had to be rescued from his dangling pickup over the weekend appeared in court Monday.
Matthew Hamilton still had a large shiner over his right eye when he appeared in the Washington County Courthouse. He was just there on a probation violation.
Police say Hamilton's blood alcohol level was .50 percent. Experts say someone would have to drink close to 20 alcoholic drinks in one hour to reach that level.
Hamilton's truck was dangling off the overpass at Highway 217 and Denny Saturday afternoon with him trapped inside.
KATU News was told Hamilton was drinking at a friend's house and watching the Civil War game before he got in his truck.
Police say Hamilton's license was suspended from a previous drunken-driving charge.
Appeared in court Monday AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED? This has to be one of the lamest "news" sites on the web. I really wonder why I bother at all. In fact, I think I won't anymore.
OK. Chronic alcoholic in a big way... I get it. What ever happened to antabuse? Can't the state require these habitual reoffenders to remain on Disulfiram as a condition of release? He's already on probation. There is little chance this guy can control himself.Â
Drunk driver lands on MAX tracks, now this among many similar headlines.. I hope he doesn't ever get his license back. Anyone found guilty of driving drunk should have it permanently REVOKED! On the other hand, you never hear of a "stoned driver" doing this. Ban Alcohol!
I have to wonder -- and I was wondering this when the first story broke -- if the guy's shiner isn't the result of an altercation with the friend who let the guy get drunk and drive away? He may have gotten that black eye in a fist fight before losing the truck.
What kind of friends let him drive after that much drinking? I guess they were all drunk probably.
He is so lucky its not a manslaughter charge. I'm glad nobody was hurt.
I agree with 1812, this creep will be back out doing the same thing over and over again until he kills himself or some one else!! The justice system is not working!! A man I know had 9 DUI in the past 10 years! Guess what folks, he was seen about a month ago driving!!!!! He has had help from family, friends and the state! It takes a real man to get your life together, and then there are those who slide in slim forever and care about no one! The only one that can help at this point is the hope we have in our heavenly father!
I like what Robert Downey Jr had to say:"Â IÂ don't drink these days. I am allergic to alcohol and narcotics. I break out in handcuffs."
Dear KATU, Did he plead not guilty ?? reporting what happened in the court room would be nice
You are right, that is one hell of a shiner.
How about bringing the friend in - who hosted this train wreck for the Civil War party - and let him get in his truck and drive away. How about bringing the friend in and charging him - with being a menace to society, too.Â
Â
Come on, people. You don't get this out of your mind drunk - and let someone drive away from your house. How this train wreck hard core alcoholic didn't kill anyone - or himself is anyone's guess. He sure was trying - to hurt and harm others.Â
Â
What is there to live for, right dude? Stay home and self medicate yourself to death, dude. I could care less. You get behind the wheel of a car and intentionally try and harm me or mine or the public in general - you deserve to be jailed - big time. For years and years and years.Â
We've all met the type. The loud mouth that shows up uninvited. Thinks he's cool when he chugs down half of someones bottle. People roll their eyes and whisper {wish he'd drive off a bridge}. Dude couldn't even do that right. Loser.
So, all I want to ask him is this...
WAS IT WORTH IT?Â
Â
@Peggy Bishop-Ackley He was driving drunk on a suspended license for a previous DUII. He doesn't care, obviously.
OUT stading shiner Mr. Hamilton!! Now stay the **** away from driving until you grow up and learn how to be a responsible person in a world of others. I hope you're really proud of your looks BOZO!! You earned some braggin rights here. Now go run and hide!!
Hopefully, the public shame and humiliation being thrown this guy's way will wake him up and motivate him to turn his life around. This, and the fact he could have seriously injured himself and/or others.
"...turn his life around..." Not a chance this will happen. He has a long record and has had many chances to "turn his life around." Hasn't happened. Won't happen. He will be in the news again. With luck, his name will, again, be the only one featured in the article and he won't be taking someone else with him.
Stupidity. Idiotic. And criminal !
@Rob C 503 Yes but our criminal justice system will allow him to continue to do the same thing over and over until he kills someone. Then he will get 5 years for manslaughter while the innocent victim(s) and the family(ies) suffer for the rest of their lives.
Would have been nice to know he was with responsible friends who wouldn't let him a.) get so intoxicated and b.) allow him to leave in a vehicle! Tragedy averted...now for justice...and hopefully this man can get some help.
 @personwithwords Why does his friend have to 'let' and 'allow' him to do anything?
How about personal responsibility?
 @deckardisareplicant absolutely! But hey, we live in a world surrounded by poor decision makers and what makes the world a happy place is when someone can step in and keep someone from not only harming themselves, but others. This could have ended so ugly had that truck hit the highway.Â
 @snooker Well said.  Plus, if he'd been drinking at a bar or restaurant, they'd be able to be held legally responsible.  With a good lawyer involved, it is quite possible the "friend" might also be charged with something.
No his friend should have tried to stop him from driving...If the friend couldn't have stoped him then they should have reported him for driving drunk. Lets face it if this was a real friend then they would know his history and that he shouldn't have been driving in the frist place. Lets face it folks if someone is going to break the law there going to break the law no matter what. Do you you all realy think the stiffer DUII laws are going to prevent this kind of thing from happening?? The guy needs help and needs to be willing to want the help... till then there isn't much anyone can do but have us tax payers pay for him to be in prison to keep everyone safe.
 @deckardisareplicant and to be clear, this falls all on him. No one else it to blame. Maybe this will be his wake-up call but from his record, maybe not.Â
What an idiot.... He is very lucky he is alive.... But more importantly HE DIDN'T KILL ANYONE!
 @Stardancer ~  "But more importantly HE DIDN'T KILL ANYONE!"   Yeah...THIS time... But considering his BAC, this guy is an on-going heavy drinker; otherwise, his system wouldn't have been able to handle that much of an alcohol overload.  Â
Â
What's frightening is what will in all probability happen if and when they turn this guy loose on the streets again... He needs a LOTÂ more help than just drying him out in jail and then turning him loose to repeat the whole process. Â Â Hard to believe he hasn't already killed or severely maimed somebody, but that can't last forever... Who will it be next... or whose family... or which school-bus full of little kids... or which sidewalk filled with pedestrians..? Â Â
When this story broke, I said that other incidents would come to light involving alcohol, driving, and the police. Sorry to say, I was right on all counts. I don't believe the laws allow a life sentence for what this man has done, but I will guarantee you that when he gets out, we will hear from him again. He has not had his last hangover or his last driving while intoxicated or suspended charge.
I have to wonder if he is going through DT's. With a BA of 500mg/dl that means he is a professional drinker and has to keep drinking daily to keep his BA above 100mg/dl or he will have seizures.
Â
Hopefully that is the case and he is having a miserable time in jail.
@RalphCramden I wonder if he is being watched in case he suffers any life threating seizures?
 @noneofyourbizzness Â
They have a nurse on staff to watch folks like this so I doubt he will have any seizures. More than likely they will have him on chlordiazepoxide to prevent seizures and acute withdrawal SS.
Wow, that's a serious shiner he's got..! Â Â Still hard to believe that's ALL he got, injury-wise..! Â Â Like I said before, though, about the only way they're gonna stop this guy from drinking and driving is to lock him up - hopefully, for a long, l-o-n-g time, so he doesn't get another chance to kill somebody.
Ooops. I think he is in DEEP DOO DOO
Agreed - What an Idiot!
He was probably still drunk at the arraignment. I say they should have given him another 20 drinks and let nature take it's course. What an idiot.