Julie Steed, 24, was paralyzed from the chest down after being hit by a drunken driver while riding a scooter home from work. Her mother, Jamie Steed, drove 400 miles to be by her daughter's side.
/Gray News) - An Alabama woman and her family are trying to figure out how to move forward after a crash with an alleged drunken driver left her paralyzed.
Julie Steed, 24, was getting ready to leave work March 4 in Lafayette, Louisiana. Just like any other night, she clocked out, put on her helmet and got on her scooter to drive home. She never made it.
“I know this isn’t the end of my life. I know that there are opportunities for me, but this isn’t something that you prepare for,” she said Julie Steed, 24, is paralyzed from the chest down after police say she was hit from behind by a drunken driver while riding a scooter home from work.
Her mother, Jamie Steed, was over 400 miles away in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, when she got a phone call at 2 a.m. Lafayette Police say Julie Steed was hit from behind by a drunken driver with a blood alcohol content nearly three times over the legal limit. While she was lying in the road, she was run over by two more vehicles. She packed a bag and drove through the night to be by her daughter’s side.
Julie Steed was in critical condition when her mom arrived. She is now paralyzed from the chest down with limited movement in her right arm and has undergone five surgeries. Julie Steed and her family are trying to figure out how to move forward after a crash with an alleged drunken driver left her paralyzed.
After spending a month at the hospital in Louisiana, Julie Steed was transferred to Noland Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, for treatment, where she can receive the specialized care that she needs.
“Every little normalcy thing here has been making me feel better. Like, just a can of soda. Because it reminds me of the good times and that things will get better,” Julie Steed said.
“She was living on her own. She was paying her bills. She got her a job, making herself back and forth work on her own. I was so proud of her.
I really was,” Jamie Steed said. When she is finally discharged, Julie Steed will spend about a month in an inpatient rehab facility before coming home to Tuscaloosa, where her family is converting a building in their backyard into a wheelchair-accessible home for her.
“We got to do a wheelchair ramp. You never thought of buying an automobile that holds a wheelchair? Those are expensive,” Jamie Steed said. Following the crash, police charged 36-year-old Dakota Wagoner with operating while intoxicated and vehicular negligent injuring.
The investigation is ongoing.
“She didn’t do anything wrong... I mean, they have every right to drive in the road,” Jamie Steed said.
“Look at what you’ve done. You’re never going to undo your actions, but you can be better in the future,” she said. Convicted Mobile kingpin’s sister-in-law sentenced for helping to hide gun, jewelry from agentsNo word of identities yet in Mobile stabbing that wounded three peopleConvicted ‘kingpin’ continued directing illegal Mobile enterprise even after trial, feds allegeEight Mile man charged with murder in Happy Hill homicide
Alabama Drunken Driver Paralysis Julie Steed Jamie Steed Lafayette Louisiana Scooter Tuscaloosa Alabama Woman Drunken Driver Crash Paralysis Mother Family Move Forward Specialized Care
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