MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee father who lost his son a few months ago after a reckless driving incident is recovering after he was hit by a drunk driver.
This is the second reckless driving crash in less than a year that has caused heartbreak and trauma for Jackie Peer.
“You know, you already feel victimized by losing a son due to it. Then you are victimized again by it actually happening to you,” said Jackie.
Two weeks ago, police in Scottsdale, Arizona say Jackie was hit by a suspected drunk driver while he was visiting the area for a funeral.
"I have a concussion. I have a cut over my left eye. Of course, the broken hand. They're doing more tests on my neck. They found a chipped bone in my neck and I bruised and broke a couple of ribs,” said Jackie.
Jackie says he was driving in Scottsdale, which is just outside Phoenix when the crash happened.
“I looked in my rearview mirror and I saw a car coming up behind me. I figured that they would either switch lanes or that they weren't going as fast as they were. And next thing I know, I just felt the impact.,” said Jackie. “He hit me hard enough to knock my truck from northbound over the island into southbound traffic and up the sidewalk, and then he fled the scene.”
The police arrested the suspect. Jackie says the crash immediately made him think of his son's death.
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On Oct. 5 last year, on Appleton Ave. in Milwaukee, his son Danari Peer was riding in a car with a driver accused of going more than 100 miles per hour. When the driver lost control and crashed, Danari died.
"Everything kind of hit me exactly what happened. And the next thing that I know the fire department, paramedics, police, and my relative was there,” said Jackie.
He says the crash caused him to have a panic attack. Now he doesn’t know if he will ever feel comfortable driving again.
"It doesn't matter how good of a driver or how safe of a driver you are. You know the next person is the problem,” said Jackie.
A psychologist at Ascension Medical Group, Nicole Steil, says that fear of getting behind the wheel again is not uncommon.
"What you are seeing in Milwaukee is almost a community trauma response, we are surrounded by community members who are experiencing reckless driving in real time and real life and they are having consequences,” said Steil.
But she says while avoiding normal activity might work in the short team, in the long term it can create more anxiety.
“Every day people are driving and sometimes they get into accidents and every day people are driving and they make it home just fine. Avoidance in the long term is not a good coping skill,” said Steil.
Steil suggests if you are anxious while driving you can practice calming strategies, such as playing music that makes you feel good, tapping your fingers on the steering wheel to avoid griping it, or even making positive statements like, "I can handle this" or "I've got this." But she says if you are avoiding driving altogether you should seek professional help.
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