thedrifter
10-02-06, 07:47 AM
Iraq veteran cheats death again in airborne wipeout
The Times-Standard
Eureka Times Standard
Marine arrested after girlfriend thrown from car
A 23-year-old Eureka Marine, who survived a grenade attack in Iraq, cheated death again Sunday after putting his Nissan 350Z through a high-speed Mixmaster. When the dust cleared and the car came to rest, the driver's girlfriend had been thrown from the car, and he was arrested on suspicion of felony drunken driving.
Kelly Miller, a Marine rifleman who has done two tours of Iraq and -- according to his MySpace website -- is due to return to civilian life in 258 days, was treated at St. Joseph Hospital and released. A hospital spokeswoman said his passenger, Kellyn Griffin, 21, was in
fair condition.
On his website, Miller says that he is into anything that may give me an adrenaline rush. The description of what happened at 12:25 a.m. Sunday on Harrison Avenue in Eureka, between Lucas and Munson streets, reads like the scenario of a nightmarish video game.
According to California Highway Patrol investigator A. R. Cho, a speeding, intoxicated Miller lost control and:
* Spun counter-clockwise into the oncoming lane
* Hit the east curb and rammed an embankment
* Spun around again and hit a second embankment rear-end-first
* Launched into the air and sheared off a telephone pole well above the ground
* Crashed back onto the street
and smashed into a parked Dodge minivan
* Came to rest on its right side, facing back the way it came.
Somewhere amid that chaos, said Cho, Kellyn Griffin was thrown from the 350Z onto the street.
When it was determined by police that Miller had been drinking, Cho said, the Marine was arrested for suspicion of felony driving under the influence. (A DUI becomes a felony if someone other than the driver is injured.)
According to Miller's MySpace page, I drive a white Nissan 350Z, and I love pitching it sideways or scream through a windy mountain pass.
He refers to Griffin as my wonderful girlfriend, and an entry from her said, 52 weeks, 365 days, 526,000 minutes . . . I think we're doing OK.
Officers at the scene speculated that Miller was driving over 100 miles an hour before the car went out of control. They pointed out damage that had been done to the corner of a home on Harrison, at the roof line, but were uncertain whether it was caused by the airborne car, or debris flying from it.
Witnesses said the telephone pole that Miller hit was clipped off 20 feet above the ground.
Two months into his first tour in Iraq, Miller suffered shrapnel wounds to his arms and face, said to have been caused by a grenade from a suicide bomber. One of his fellow Marines, Cpl. Jason Durham, died of injuries from the same blast. Durhan covered the grenade with his body to save his buddies.
Durham and Miller were featured in the book, The Gift of Valor, by Michael M. Phillips, published last May, about the incident in which Miller was wounded.
Ellie
The Times-Standard
Eureka Times Standard
Marine arrested after girlfriend thrown from car
A 23-year-old Eureka Marine, who survived a grenade attack in Iraq, cheated death again Sunday after putting his Nissan 350Z through a high-speed Mixmaster. When the dust cleared and the car came to rest, the driver's girlfriend had been thrown from the car, and he was arrested on suspicion of felony drunken driving.
Kelly Miller, a Marine rifleman who has done two tours of Iraq and -- according to his MySpace website -- is due to return to civilian life in 258 days, was treated at St. Joseph Hospital and released. A hospital spokeswoman said his passenger, Kellyn Griffin, 21, was in
fair condition.
On his website, Miller says that he is into anything that may give me an adrenaline rush. The description of what happened at 12:25 a.m. Sunday on Harrison Avenue in Eureka, between Lucas and Munson streets, reads like the scenario of a nightmarish video game.
According to California Highway Patrol investigator A. R. Cho, a speeding, intoxicated Miller lost control and:
* Spun counter-clockwise into the oncoming lane
* Hit the east curb and rammed an embankment
* Spun around again and hit a second embankment rear-end-first
* Launched into the air and sheared off a telephone pole well above the ground
* Crashed back onto the street
and smashed into a parked Dodge minivan
* Came to rest on its right side, facing back the way it came.
Somewhere amid that chaos, said Cho, Kellyn Griffin was thrown from the 350Z onto the street.
When it was determined by police that Miller had been drinking, Cho said, the Marine was arrested for suspicion of felony driving under the influence. (A DUI becomes a felony if someone other than the driver is injured.)
According to Miller's MySpace page, I drive a white Nissan 350Z, and I love pitching it sideways or scream through a windy mountain pass.
He refers to Griffin as my wonderful girlfriend, and an entry from her said, 52 weeks, 365 days, 526,000 minutes . . . I think we're doing OK.
Officers at the scene speculated that Miller was driving over 100 miles an hour before the car went out of control. They pointed out damage that had been done to the corner of a home on Harrison, at the roof line, but were uncertain whether it was caused by the airborne car, or debris flying from it.
Witnesses said the telephone pole that Miller hit was clipped off 20 feet above the ground.
Two months into his first tour in Iraq, Miller suffered shrapnel wounds to his arms and face, said to have been caused by a grenade from a suicide bomber. One of his fellow Marines, Cpl. Jason Durham, died of injuries from the same blast. Durhan covered the grenade with his body to save his buddies.
Durham and Miller were featured in the book, The Gift of Valor, by Michael M. Phillips, published last May, about the incident in which Miller was wounded.
Ellie