smash n' grab

This is a pretty neat story. I like how they say 'tackle', do they really mean the driver was actually tackled? Or is this a play on words since the person involved is a former football player? I think it's a bad pun myself, reading the story it's apparent that the drunk driver was probably dragged through the window by the former CFL player who punched his way through the glass to stop the vehicle from leaving the scene of the accident. Had someone struck my wife and kids in a crosswalk while drunk driving, hell I'd do a lot worse to them

Former CFL player tackels suspected drunk driver

Thursday, September 15, 2005 Page S5

EDMONTON -- A former Canadian Football League player caught and tackled a suspected drunk driver after his wife and son were struck in a crosswalk near Disneyland in California.

Michael Hildebrand's wife, Christine, was in intensive care in a Los Angeles-area hospital yesterday. She was expected to return to Edmonton by private aircraft today. The couple's seven-year-old son, Nolan, and a 10-year-old-friend whose family was travelling with the Hildebrands, both escaped serious injury.

Christine's younger sister, Heather Halpern, said had it not been for Hildebrand's actions, the driver of the car would have got away. "He's kind of like the hero," Halpern said. "I don't know how he did it." The two families had left Disneyland and were on their way back to their hotel on the first day of their vacation Monday when the crash happened around 8:30 p.m.

Christine and the two boys were crossing with the green light at a marked crosswalk when they were struck. Halpern said her brother-in-law saw the car, a Toyota Camry, moments before it struck and reached out to grab his family and the boy, but was too late.

Hildebrand, who was a defensive back for the Edmonton Eskimos and the Toronto Argonauts in 1989 and 1990, chased after the car and smashed his fist through the windshield to make it stop. Christine, a dental assistant, sustained facial injuries and had surgery for a broken leg. According to NBC news reports, a 53-year-old man was arrested and charged with being under the influence of alcohol.