Man killed with own car by his designated driver


Saved from : http://www.indystar.com/articles/0/138557-5010-009.html


      Man killed with own car by his designated driver
      Girlfriend of victim was given keys to auto after they had been drinking, 
      police say.


      By Terry Horne
      terry.horne@indystar.com
      April 16, 2004
       

      Todd Birch apparently knew he was too intoxicated to drive, but he gave 
      his car keys to the wrong person, authorities said.
      Shortly after leaving a Downtown bar early Thursday, the 24-year-old man 
      died after he was run over by his own car.
      Liza Besser, Birch's 22-year-old girlfriend, told police she was driving 
      to pick up Birch about 1:40 a.m. after they both walked out of the bar 
      when she hit him.
      "She knew he was kind of lagging behind. Next thing she knows, she feels 
      this lump or bump," said Indianapolis Police Sgt. William Weber.
      Besser's blood- alcohol level was later tested at 0.21, nearly three times 
      the level at which a person is considered drunk, said Weber, who leads an 
      enforcement unit targeting drunken drivers.
      Birch, a business major at Indiana University-Purdue University 
      Indianapolis, was to graduate next month, his older brother, Ryan, said 
      Thursday.
      Todd Birch, a graduate of Valparaiso (Ind.) High School, had been living 
      in Indianapolis and working at a pizza restaurant while going to school. 
      "He was kind of a dreamer," said Ryan Birch. "He had great plans, and he 
      included his friends and his family in all his thoughts."
      Besser told police she met Birch at the Slippery Noodle Inn, 372 S. 
      Meridian St., and stayed there about an hour, having four alcoholic 
      drinks. She told police she had had two drinks earlier at another Downtown 
      bar.
      Besser and Birch both began walking the three blocks or so south to his 
      car after leaving the Slippery Noodle, but she got to the car first.
      "This is the part where it gets a little hazy," said Patrolman Christopher 
      J. Smith, who helped investigate the incident.
      Besser got in the driver's seat, pulled out into the street to pick up 
      Birch -- then felt a thump and stopped, Smith said. Besser told police she 
      didn't see anyone. She looked under the car and found Birch.
      "He wandered off the sidewalk into her path," Smith said. "She thought he 
      was still on the sidewalk, and she was going to pull up to where he was 
      and pick him up and take him home."
      Ambulance workers had to lift the car off Birch. But he was dead at the 
      scene in the 600 block of South Meridian, less than a block from where the 
      car had been parked.
      Besser was arrested on a preliminary charge of driving while intoxicated, 
      causing a death, and was being held in the Marion County Jail. Her bond 
      was set initially at $100,000.
      Weber said officers were still interviewing witnesses to verify accounts 
      of what happened.
      The circumstances surrounding Birch's death, while unusual, are not 
      unique. Weber said he has come across about a dozen designated drivers who 
      have been too drunk to drive.
      "Two lives are ruined, and then there are the families," Weber said. "They 
      have to deal with it, too."
      Call Star reporter Terry Horne at (317) 444-6082.
       


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