snakem04
Enthusiast
bottom line drink and drive and you pay the price. one way or another it catches up with you. sad..
Viper Driver Dies - Driver's Fault
- Thread starter Bobpantax
- Start date
GBS
Enthusiast
Very sad! I live in Cape Coral. When my mother heard about it she called up to make sure it wasn't me.
johniew398
Enthusiast
Alcohol or no alcohol - Vipers are hardly predicatable.
Sorry for his family and glad no one else didn't get hurt.
Sorry for his family and glad no one else didn't get hurt.
Janni
Enthusiast
You don't just "find yourself in this situation" - there's a conscious decision to drink and drive. Sadly - the ultimate price was paid. Fortunately, no one else had to die because of this bad decision.
Chuck 98 RT/10
Enthusiast
What? Vipers do exactly what the driver tells them to do. There is NOTHING unpredictable about a Viper.
Warfang
Enthusiast
Kevan
Enthusiast
Even more sad is that he was drunk at 10 o'clock in the morning.
Condolences to the family.
Condolences to the family.
V10SpeedLuvr
Enthusiast
I'm with everyone else. If he was driving drunk, he deserved what he got. My compassion for people who drive while drunk is below zero. I'm sorry his family must suffer because of his stupidity, but at least he didn't kill any innocent people. What an idiot.
dave6666
Enthusiast
What year was the car? I mean, now that we've kinda established the dead guy is an idiot just curious if my car is 1 RED GTS rarer.
Oh. Silly me. Florida... They've likely already run it through the car wash to get the dents out and it's for sale on ebay now with low miles and new interior.
Oh. Silly me. Florida... They've likely already run it through the car wash to get the dents out and it's for sale on ebay now with low miles and new interior.
You know, up where I live, in the hills, the roads are hilly and very curvy. People don't respect the roads and think they can drink and drive...but, it is common that they speed, miss a turn and off the road and into trees. We have few deaths, but lots of injuries and arrests if needed.
I agree with the comments about respecting the power of a Viper in addition to all that has been said. If he was weaving in and out of traffic at high speed, it doesn't take much of a mistake to throw the back of the car out....he did, slid into the curb and that was it.
This could have happened just for the fact that some people like to play when in their Vipers. Add to that, the fact that alcohol was invlolved, and you could almost write the script.
I do not feel particularly bad for the driver, as it was his decision to drink before driving. But again not to be redundant, it is the family and loved ones that now have to suffer through a loss of family member.
Unfortunately, this is an avoidable loss.
I agree with the comments about respecting the power of a Viper in addition to all that has been said. If he was weaving in and out of traffic at high speed, it doesn't take much of a mistake to throw the back of the car out....he did, slid into the curb and that was it.
This could have happened just for the fact that some people like to play when in their Vipers. Add to that, the fact that alcohol was invlolved, and you could almost write the script.
I do not feel particularly bad for the driver, as it was his decision to drink before driving. But again not to be redundant, it is the family and loved ones that now have to suffer through a loss of family member.
Unfortunately, this is an avoidable loss.
FYI. This is a photo of the driver. The Viper was a black 2004. The accident happened at about 4 PM on a Friday afternoon. So far there is no news of a family. Did anyone know him? He apparently was a commercial real estate salesperson in Tampa. He also seems to have been a part time actor.
CENTURY 21 Bay West
Spencer Emmons
10115 Montague Street
Tampa, FL 33626
And the passenger was Henry Albrecht, a Broker-agent at Gulf Gateway Realty in Cape Coral, Florida. No photo found online. Anyone know him?
http://chapters.ccim.com/photo/08939539
You must be registered for see images
CENTURY 21 Bay West
Spencer Emmons
10115 Montague Street
Tampa, FL 33626
And the passenger was Henry Albrecht, a Broker-agent at Gulf Gateway Realty in Cape Coral, Florida. No photo found online. Anyone know him?
http://chapters.ccim.com/photo/08939539
You must be registered for see images
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2snakes4us
Enthusiast
If you go onto Google Earth and look up 1700 block you can see the street and that the speed posted on that block is 45
He must have been going really fast as stated
He must have been going really fast as stated
BlackSnake99
Enthusiast
Chuck 98 RT/10
Enthusiast
Doesn't even look that bad. Any bets on who was wearing a seatbelt and who wasn't?
MichaelP
Enthusiast
Something like this affects so many people just because 1 person decided to be reckless
All the way from the emergency responders who worked for an hour to get him out, to the hospital staff, parents, friends relatives etc.
What a selfish act for a 39 year old. Being a grandparent I can't even imagine the feelings and thoughts his parents and grandparents have in such a situation.
All the way from the emergency responders who worked for an hour to get him out, to the hospital staff, parents, friends relatives etc.
What a selfish act for a 39 year old. Being a grandparent I can't even imagine the feelings and thoughts his parents and grandparents have in such a situation.
BlackSnake99
Enthusiast
Looks like the top was down. Tree hits driver door-head hits tree=bad outcome. Seatbelt or not.
Per the report, the driver's side door was crushed in from the side. In this case, the seatbelt may have locked him in place to take the full impact of the hit from the side. My guess would be that he suffered multiple broken ribs, a fractured scapula, ruptured spleen, a collapsed lung, head injury with possible damage to his cervical vertabrae and severe internal bleeding that could not be stopped in time to save his life.
Time will tell, but the driver may not have been the Viper Owner......
ViperGal
Enthusiast
Does anyone recognize the passenger then ..."Henry Leo Albrecht "
00SVTdubs
Enthusiast
I wonder what his BAC was? Just because alcohol was involved does not mean he was "drunk". He could have had a glass of wine or a beer and been like .02 BAC but just driving like an idiot. Just sayin
sorry for his family though
sorry for his family though
jdeft1
Enthusiast
Please... who cares? People die in DUI accidents all the time. My bet is the guy was having the time of his life!!.... He had a buz, was drivin' the viper and showing off for his buddy!!! Oops! and gone. End of story for him.
Sorry his friend had to be there....
I hope I go out a similar fashion..... death by mis-adventure is the best way to go, when nobody else is involved. Who wants to die in a hospital bed?? I much prefer to be behind the wheel of my car, or halfway up a mountain, or tossed overboard in a storm, or any other way that's fast and leaves 'em wondering....
A small plane goes down in a rugged area........ Was a deft pilot on board??? Maybe booze was involved?... BFD..
- J
Sorry his friend had to be there....
I hope I go out a similar fashion..... death by mis-adventure is the best way to go, when nobody else is involved. Who wants to die in a hospital bed?? I much prefer to be behind the wheel of my car, or halfway up a mountain, or tossed overboard in a storm, or any other way that's fast and leaves 'em wondering....
A small plane goes down in a rugged area........ Was a deft pilot on board??? Maybe booze was involved?... BFD..
- J
SkyBob
Enthusiast
Damn. I'm impressed.
eucharistos
Enthusiast
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Sneakerpimp76
Enthusiast
- Joined
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I knew Spencer. I saw this thread, so I joined up to say a few things about him. My brother knows him better than I do...he knew him since Spencer was about 15 years old. They worked together in fiberglass. Spencer eventually opened Corvettes West, which we now own since late 2004. He comes in and out of town to visit and to work on projects with us.
After selling Corvettes West to us, he went down to Florida to build some homes, then got into real estate. He was just up here a few weeks working on a project before he went back to FL to meet up with the gentleman who was in the car with him during the accident. From what I understand, that gentleman used to be someone Spencer worked with a few years back. Spencer basically went to meet him to get his job back going in estate. It wasn't 10:00 in the morning, it was just after 4 pm. According to one of Spencers family members, they were coming back from lunch.
Even though 1 beer is too many to drive, I can't see Spencer being flat out drunk or wasted in front of his old boss while trying to get back with the other gentlemans company. Let me stress again...I can't tolerate ANY drinking and driving...and if he hadn't had Anything to drink that day, he May have been able to pull the car out of the spin. Just speculating here...if his blood alcohol level was well over the legal limit, the media would have stated that.
Spencer was a true entrepreneur - he had a lot of good ideas - didn't always carry them out the best way, but he could definitely get great ideas off the ground. By the way - he wasn't a part time actor. That's just someone with the same name
As for the car...the accident doesn't look bad from the picture...but he was hurt so badly *cringe* I will spare you the grizzly details...but it's a good lesson not to drink anything before you get on the road...Especially in a high horsepower vehicle. Spencer always said that the only time he was ever really happy is when he was in his Viper.
RIP
EDIT: I totally forgot to mention that he used to own Six Ultra Lounge here in Salem. Maybe some of you from this area has been there before...
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Thank you for the data Sneaker. You make an interesting point about alcohol and trying to get the job. But, perhaps they hit it off at lunch; had one too many; and then with impulse control turned off decided to take a Viper ride.
If the Viper had the original run craps from 2004 on it, the tires would have been as hard as a rock regardless of tread depth. Thus, if he was driving too fast and weaving as described by onlookers, all it would have taken to throw him into an unrecoverable spin was a small patch of moisture, oil, and/or sand together with an abrupt upshift or downshift and/or an abrupt accelerator application. I believe that once a Viper, or for that matter any other high performance vehicle, goes into a spin with old, hard tires, it is pretty near impossible to have a good outcome, even if you are sober, unless you are off road on a track. In which case there may be enough road width to avoid hitting something depending on where on the track the spin occurs. The involvement of alcohol was bad but driving like a fool in traffic is just as bad. But for the grace of G-d , others could have easily been injured or killed who were outside of the car.
If the Viper had the original run craps from 2004 on it, the tires would have been as hard as a rock regardless of tread depth. Thus, if he was driving too fast and weaving as described by onlookers, all it would have taken to throw him into an unrecoverable spin was a small patch of moisture, oil, and/or sand together with an abrupt upshift or downshift and/or an abrupt accelerator application. I believe that once a Viper, or for that matter any other high performance vehicle, goes into a spin with old, hard tires, it is pretty near impossible to have a good outcome, even if you are sober, unless you are off road on a track. In which case there may be enough road width to avoid hitting something depending on where on the track the spin occurs. The involvement of alcohol was bad but driving like a fool in traffic is just as bad. But for the grace of G-d , others could have easily been injured or killed who were outside of the car.
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kcobean
Enthusiast
A witness to the accident emailed the following to the staff email address and asked us to post it here. Hopefully this brings some more facts to the discussion:
Chuck 98 RT/10
Enthusiast
Eye witness accounts are not necessarily facts. Nonetheless an interesting email.
kcobean
Enthusiast
Agreed, but it seems to be a point of view that is a bit more detailed than the news article in the OP. The lack of brake lights concerns me. I'd be very curious to know what went on inside the car in the moments before the crash.
