Ten minutes after leaving one girl texted her father saying she wanted him to know she loved him if she never saw him again. The girls were scared. That is because their coach, the woman driving the van, was drunk.
Believe it or not at 7:00 in the morning the Fairfield High School golf coach was not only drunk but she was three times over the legal limit. And there she was, driving six students to a golf meet in a town an hour away.
This woman's name is Susie Steinbeck. She is 59 years old.
A man from Des Moines happened to be following the van and at first thought the driver was talking on a cell phone or maybe texting since the van went off onto the shoulder of the road and was weaving back and forth.
He soon could tell something was seriously wrong. He was sure that he would be seeing a head on collision within moments as they were on a two lane road and there was oncoming traffic.
For 10 miles this man followed the van and he tried to figure out what he could do. Finally the van stopped at a stop sign and the man drove his car in front of the van so it could not go any farther.
The man kept the van stopped until the Iowa Highway Patrol could arrive. This is the man who literally saved the lives of the six girls -- his name is Steve Lombardi and he is a lawyer from West Des Moines.
By the grace of God the six girls were not seriously injured or killed because of the gross recklessness of their golf coach. The fact she was so drunk at such an early hour is just ... unbelievable.
Mr. Lombardi never dreamed he would be placed in a position of having to do what he did that morning. I guess we never know when we will be called upon to act.
Those girls and their families have a lot to be grateful for because of the actions of one man.
And they have a lot to be angry about, too. We entrust our children to the care of teachers and when one of them does something this stupid it is just beyond belief.
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