One more DUI: will you learn after you kill a student in your way?

Do you think you would learn your lesson in DUI, only after you kill a student in your way?

"Driving drunk does not only happen after the bars close, but also during school hours."

Cherokee High School graduate Brittany Elaine Weiss once directed school plays about the consequences of drunken driving. Unfortunately, she found out the consequences personally, because on Friday, the 19-year-old Gordon College student was killed by a man accused of a DUI (drunken driving).

She went to see a tom cruise movie

Will Banks, a friend from high school, said he saw Weiss enter a movie theater Thursday night to see the tom cruise film “Valkyrie.” Weiss had just left a Canton movie theater at about 12:15 a.m. Friday when her 2008 Toyota Scion was struck broadside by a 2003 Town & Country minivan.

The driver of the minivan, Stephen Patrick Wauschek of Canton, is in Cherokee County Jail, where he faces charges of DUI and first-degree vehicular homicide, police said.

was he calling his lawyer while on the chase?

Canton police had tried to stop the suspect for possible DUI and an expired license tag, but Wauschek refused to stop. During a chase that police described as “low-speed,” the minivan ran a red light and struck Weiss’ Scion, police said.

He tried to run away on foot but was caught, authorities said, and had a suspended Michigan driver’s license.

Police said Wauschek had been arrested by Cherokee County Sheriff’s deputies in September on charges of DUI, striking a fixed object and attempting to elude.

A Cherokee County magistrate judge on Friday evening set Wauschek’s bond at $318,000, but, because he had violated probation from previous DUI charges, a hold was put on his bond, police spokesman Sgt. Jay Baker said. “He cannot bond out of jail unless the hold is removed [by his probation officer] at a later date,” Baker said.

Weiss, an only child, was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger in the Scion, Kassandra Aileen Carman, 19, was injured and taken to Well Star Kennestone Hospital, where she was in critical but stable condition Friday.

“She was talking to Kayce [Kassandra Carman] as she was walking in. After the movie was over, it slipped my mind because I was in a hurry to get home. I wish I could have talked to her one last time to say goodbye.”

David Bachman, who knew Weiss since elementary school, said he hadn’t talked to her in a year but remembered her fondly.

“She was an angel,” he said. “Now that she’s gone, I think she still is an angel.”

Learn from this DUI that killed a young girl. Learn to get help.

DUI stories by the police asking please don't make the police your designated driver

State police are pleading with people with DUI trouble - don't make the police your designated driver. Officials have unleashed "Operation Santa," a program that aims to prevent injury and save lives by aggressively targeting drunken drivers. "We are trying to save lives and keep all of our roads and highways safe," said John Danaher III, state public safety commissioner. "Any amount of alcohol never mixes with driving a vehicle anywhere in our state." Lt. J. Paul Vance, spokesman for the state police, said they are planning roving patrols and increased surveillance throughout areas in Greenwich and Stamford on Interstate 95. However, there are no sobriety check points scheduled in town, according to a press release that lists all check-points from now until New Year's Day. Greenwich police said they do initiate check-points and increased patrols during the entire holiday season, from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day, on account of the higher frequency of incidents. The traffic section has not release any specific check-point areas planned this year. Operation Santa stands for "Stop Another Needless Tragic Accident," said Vance, who noted both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve traditionally show high numbers of drunken driving arrests and related accidents. "From what we've seen in the past, the numbers are pretty much consistent with both holidays," Vance said. Police said they believe drunken driving incidents are more prevalent during the holidays because there are many celebrations, such as house and office parties, that take place and often involve alcoholic beverages. State police are hoping residents chose designated drivers to avoid the fines, jail time, serious injury and death, that can result from a DUI or driving while under the influence, Vance said. Police also want motorists who see a drunken driver to report it, as well as to make sure everyone in their own car wears a seatbelt.