“Location: Georgia/Florida”
In January of 2020 I was involved in a car accident while I was on my way back to Georgia from Florida early hours in the morning. I had drank plenty the night/morning prior and I’m not going to hide that, I own it. I definitely still had alcohol in my system and the FL officer knew it too. So he confronted me about being intoxicated and I explained I had a few last night blah blah blah will you perform a field sobriety test, I refused, I’m in cuffs being taken to jail. I don’t blow into anything but either way I get locked up which I knew would happen because I refused.
When I get into the jail they end up putting me in the MENTAL HEALTH UNIT! For absolutely no reason. I was with the self deleters and just off the rocker types. After a little bit, the guard comes in with a few phones and I grab one of them. I made a call to my parents, they told me sorry but not a chance would they come from Atlanta down to a jail in FL to get me. Next call was to a bail bondsman…this is where things started to really really suck. The bondsmen said they wouldn’t be able to get me due to the fact that I am from GA making me a “Flight Risk.” So I was stuck having to wait for basically my first sentencing. It being Jan of 2020 COVID was messing everything up. I ended up not being able to see the virtual judge for 2 weeks!!! So I was jailed for 2 weeks in the mental health unit for a dui that was my first offense and I didn’t give blood or breath. They didn’t even try to get blood from me to test…it was kind of strange.
So 2 weeks in jail, I see the virtual judge, at this point I just want to gtfo of that jail no matter what, he sentenced me to 12 months probation, fines, dui school etc…luckily I had money from work in my bank account and I was able to get an uber and a hotel room where I could finally charge my phone, figure out where they towed my truck and make the schedule to make it back to north GA. I figure everything out and make it back and then I start doing the courts mandates.
For roughly 6 or 7 months I made my payments on time and was working but hadn’t done any of the other mandates like community service or the dui school, meet a substance abuse counselor… one thing led to another and I ended up making the decision to put down drinking for good but I needed help. I found that help at an inpatient rehab in SC that was roughly a 6 month stay but I was there for more like 3 months. Within those 3 months I wasn’t working and I had no way of paying probation…at the time I figured my probation officer would have understood that I’m getting help and just needed a little time in order to get the court mandates done. 3-4 months pass in SC and I leave to go back to GA sober.
As soon as I get back to my house in GA I end up talking with my father and he brings up my little brothers health being awful because he won’t stop drinking. Apparently he was having seizures frequently but for whatever reason he didn’t go to the hospital….my little brothers demon was drinking but all of his friends demons was heroine and fentanyl. My little brother by the age of 27 had lost every friend he grew up with to drug overdoses. So my little brother was basically just hanging out with my dad and going to work, extremely depressed, he gained tons of fat, and his girlfriend was awful! So I made the decision to buy him a U-Haul I. Order to pack up and move into my house in GA. So I do that on a Sunday and Monday morning I get a call from my dad, me thinking he’s going to be on his way, but in a voice that gives me chills to this day I heard “Bryson didn’t wake up and he’s gone.” My little brother at 27 a week before turning 28 had a seizure that night and didn’t wake up. It had killed him. Needless to say it absolutely rocked me and I was beyond lost. That was my best friend and never in a million years did anyone really think death was so prevalent for him. Months go by and at this point I’m under the impression that probation has already put out a warrant for me or whatever but I didn’t care because I had no intention on going back to FL and I just kept pushing it to the side.
A couple years go by and this probation/warrant thing is constantly giving me anxiety and eventually I try reaching out to my probation officer via email explain what I just went through in hope that she would allow me to pay the rest of the fine and finish the court mandate stuff. I never received a letter in the mail, my phone never rang, I never got an email back…so I’ve tried emailing and calling her several times since then to no avail. Here it is may of 2026 so 6 years later and I’m so tired of this being over my head but idk what to do. My license is not revoked in GA and the dmv verified that on multiple occasions. I’m scared that if I ever do cross that state line, my butt is going to jail for a long time when I’m really not a criminal and hate myself for being so stupid about taking care of what I should have taken care of! Do you all suggest me do or not do anything? I’m big into shooting and for 6 years I’ve been drop dead terrified to even try to buy a new gun because one of the lines on the form asks if you’re a fugitive of justice which my dumb ass I guess would be? How do I go about resolving any of this!?