Chris Sandy was a normal 22-year-old kid. He enjoyed playing sports, fishing and hanging out with his friends. In 2000, that normal life came to an abrupt end when Chris decided to go to a party, slam down four drinks, and then drive on a country road outside Atlanta, Ga. Traveling at a speed of 77 mph in a 35-mph speed zone, Sandy's car crashed into an oncoming vehicle, killing the elderly couple in the oncoming car.
Sandy will chronicle his journey and regrets during a presentation today at 4 p.m., at the Conference Center of Georgia Piedmont Technical College's Newton Campus Building D, located at 8100 Bob Williams Parkway in Covington, Ga. 30014.
The presentation, hosted by the College's Law Enforcement Academy, is free and open to the public.
Sandy's oral testimony about impaired driving and its consequences will be interwoven with the showing of the 2008 DUI television documentary "Enduring Regret: Chris Sandy's Story of Living Life After Causing Death." In 2009, the documentary won two Emmy Awards-one for Best Documentary for a television presentation with dramatic impact and one for Best Director-from the Southeast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Sandy was charged and convicted on two counts of vehicular homicide by DUI and spent 8½ years in prison. During his incarceration, Sandy's commitment to preventing others from repeating his mistakes, led him to share his story with more than 130,000 young people in Georgia. Sandy was released from prison in 2009 and is serving the remainder of his sentence on parole/probation until 2031.
Now a consultant at Atlanta-based Enduring Regret, the former inmate continues sharing his live "Enduring Regret" presentations to people of all ages at schools, colleges, conferences, military bases, and business organizations nationwide.
Joining Sandy onstage will be Eric Krug-once a standout baseball player at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta-a victim of a DUI crash.
Krug was a typical college student enjoying life, hanging out with friends and having a good time. But the life that he knew came to an abrupt and horrific end on his 21st birthday. On that night, Krug made a life-altering choice: he and three other friends got into a car that was being driven by a drunk driver. The drunk driver crashed into trees, killing Krug's teammate and best friend. He suffered head trauma and was left in a coma for over a year. Because of the traumatic brain injury that he sustained, Krug lives with complications. He is unable to speak and uses adaptive equipment to communicate with others; he has short-term memory loss and has difficulties recalling important events in his life. From the horrific crash, Krug must walk with the assistance of a walker or use a wheelchair. Like his colleague Chris Sandy, Krug has made it his mission to save lives by sharing his powerful and inspirational story at middle schools, high schools, colleges, churches, and military bases nationwide. Krug's inspiring message is delivered through an iPad and voice of his mother Joyce Krug or Sandy-his brother in law.
For more information about the "Enduring Regret" documentary, visit enduringregret.org. For more information about the Sandy and Krug presentations at GPTC, call Beverly Thomas, chair of the Georgia Piedmont Technical College Division of Health, Public Safety & Security at (404) 297-9522, ext. 5302.Georgia Piedmont Technical College, a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia, promotes a student-centered environment for lifelong learning and development, encompassing academic and technical education for employment in a global community. The College has nine centers of learning in DeKalb, Newton, Rockdale, and Morgan counties. Georgia Piedmont Technical College currently has more than 5,000 students enrolled in diploma or degree programs and more than 9,000 in adult education classes. Academic and Technical programs at Georgia Piedmont Tech cover more than 120 different occupations. For more information, visit website at GPTC.edu.
