Andy Gabrielson killed in traffic accident

The suspect driver was going the wrong way on the Creek Turnpike for quite a few miles with many 911 calls. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol was running emergency and was close when the collision occured. The Oklahoma Medical Examiners Office will get a blood alcohol test however it will be about two months to get back a report. With a posted Turnpike speed of 75 mph the distance covered was quick and was not long term through three cities. Also the pinned time was due to the investigation, both drivers were pronounced upon arrival of medical personel.
 
Our thoughts and prayers are with Gabrielson family and Andy's friends. Yes, they should strengthen DUI laws even more. Right now I think most states take away their license longer for not taking a breath test than for failing one. A conviction in most states is expensive and might mean a few days in a clean well-kept jail. How about prison time for the first offense? It should be treated as violent crime. Even if nobody is hurt a DUI should be treated like aggravated assault. Such harsh sentencing would create a deterrent that we now lack. This coming storm season let's honor and remember Andy with good safe responsible chasing.
 
For those who would be interested, my mother is a great quilter and wants to make a memory quilt for Andy's family. She needs 35 t-shirts (we have 8 donated so far) to complete a quilt, along with a few pictures of Andy storm chase/spending time with family. To see my mother's work, you can visit her business page at www.facebook.com/farmridge. For the tshirts, she's wanting anything storm related, like chase team shirts, streaming services and so on and so forth. If you'd like to help out, shoot me an email at [email protected]. I'll post a picture of the quilt when it's finished. I know my mom does great work, and I'm sure Andy's family will enjoy it

RIP Andy...you were the best at what you did, and your passion for storm chasing was impossible to exceed
 
Based on further readings and information in the last 2 days, there is a possibility that ETOH was NOT involved (it has been posted that testing for this is being done but won't be known for 2 months), and that the person who caused the crash had a history of diabetes. If the latter, they could have been confused from low blood sugar. This would make it an even sadder tragedy, if this is the case. Again, prayers go out to all victims in this sad accident, regardless of cause.
 
Yeah well forgive me for not buying into that just yet. He was arrested on an alcohol related charge no more than 30 days ago, so that doesn't exactly do wonders for his image. Not to mention they reportedly smelled alcohol in his truck. If it is proven otherwise, I will apologize, but until then I hold my position.
 
*MOD NOTE* While related to the accident, let's keep speculation about the driver out of this until the hard facts are known. Celebrate Andy's life and share with us how you remember him.

Further speculation will be deleted from the thread.
 
Important Announcement

Hey everyone, my parents own a floral shop where I live (Denver), so I wanted to let the membership know that I had my mom contact a local floral shop in the Luverne, MN, area to have a top shelf floral arrangement sent to the viewing tomorrow and the memorial service on Saturday. The note on the arrangement will read: "From the Stormtrack Administrative Team and Community" so everyone who is a member here will be represented. I wanted Andy's family to know that he was a well respected member of the chasing community and we thought enough of him to send flowers to his memorial service. Just thought I'd let everyone know. :)
 
Thanks Mark. Very cool! Wish like hell I could be there at Andy's service. I think Chasercon will be a fun time, but also one of remembrance. A very mixed bag of emotions for sure
 
People I work with know I chase, but they really don't understand too much of how it goes besides what they see on TV. I've told them about what happened, how big Andy was to all of us, his chasing style, and his great career. I told people at work about Andy's roll over in OK during the Tipton tornado. And how he just grabbed his stuff and kept chasing with someone else, leaving his Nissan in the ditch. Really the only thing people told me, "now that's passion!"
 
The funeral was today in Luverne, MN. I'm sure there were some chasers that were able to make it. Reed posted that the city set off the tornado sirens for Andy in remembrance. A nice thing for the city to do! It gave me goosebumps to think what it would have been like to have been there and heard that. Definitely a tough day for a lot of people...
 
I just heard about this. How terrible. God bless Andy's family and may they find the strength to get past this and find joy in his memory. He is missed.
 
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