Carl the Death Driver / Ch-3 / Pt-4

After 30-minutes on the cold curb, Porter was on his way to the station for further testing. Cuffed and uncomfortable in the back of the cruiser, Porter listened as the officer called to request another breath test and a blood kit. Everyone was cordial at the station and Porter moved with the pace and hand guidance of a new set of officers. After passing through two small rooms Porter entered an area that felt like a doctor’s office. His cuffs were removed and he sat in an elevated chair where a nurse drew blood samples.

Porter was then moved into another internal room and asked to blow into a warm tube attached to something that looked like a small camping cooler. After 10-seconds of steady exhale, an ongoing low tone emitted from the machine finally stopped. The technician never spoke directly to Porter. The low tone sound returned, and with the point of a finger from the attending officer, Porter knew what to do.

At 3:00am he collapsed in a seated position with his head down on a cold metal desk attached to a grey cinderblock wall. Porter slept in the holding area that resembled an industrial break room until 7:30am Sunday morning. An officer approached the door from the outside and coordinated with two officers seated on the inside to bring him out for processing. Porter was booked for DUI at 8:00am and released on his own recognizance with his paperwork just before 9:00am.

As a first time offender, Porter’s driver license was suspended for six months and he received a DUI pink sheet providing a 30-day window to drive in order to meet with the DMV and legal representation. Porter never made it to the DMV and 30-days later he was unable to legally drive. He covered his attorney fees with what little he had in savings and help from his older sister. The base fine owed to the state and penalty assessments owed to the county far exceeded a month of Porter’s take-home pay from the bank. After retrieving his car from the impound lot two days before it was to be auctioned off, Porter sold it to cover a chunk of what he owed the state and county. He covered the outstanding balance through a one year payment plan on his one and only credit card issued by First Fourth Trust.

After losing his driver’s license, Porter pieced together a patchwork of transportation options to maintain his nascent banking career. He relied heavily on rideshare services, which consumed an uncomfortable portion of his take-home pay. The public bus system filled in some gaps, though the routes and schedules rarely aligned with his needs. Here and there he would casually ask for rides from friends and co-workers. Never imposing and often making it seem like it was perfect timing or meant to be. Most days, Porter walked the final mile to work from the nearest bus stop, arriving early to compose himself and avoid any banter related to morning traffic.

First Fourth’s HR policies were clear regarding DUI convictions – mandatory reporting and potential termination. Even an arrest awaiting a trial date could place Porter on unpaid administrative leave. He was barely balancing his finances at the end of each month. The additional burden of regular payments to state and county and escalating expenditures for transportation served as nagging reminders of the DUI checkpoint and his night at the station. If he could even qualify for unemployment given his situation, it would fall far short of his current paycheck and he’d sink into perpetual debt. Porter was very careful to keep his arrest a secret. On more than one occasion he found himself fabricating stories about car troubles. Only Bingo knew the truth by way of Tricia. Porter didn’t blame her for sharing the story. After all, he imagined the trauma she went through. He remembered her kindness and her attempt to console him in the moments before he was pushed into the back of the police cruiser.

Wednesday was typically the slowest day of the week at the Taylor Branch. The lines for the tellers were lighter with low traffic from their retail customers. There were fewer meetings and transactions for business related banking, and wealth management had been consolidated to the flagship branch years ago. On this particular Wednesday the floor was ominously empty. There was only a single customer in the entire bank. An elderly woman meeting with Judy Shibusawa, an account specialist. The business at hand was to close-out her deceased husband’s checking account and receive the paltry balance; eaten away by bank service fees over the years.

Mr. Boyar was offsite and Porter’s workload was considerably less as a direct result. By 1:30pm the tellers hadn’t received a single patron through the polycarbonate bullet-resistant barriers for over 30-minutes. They kept busy organizing cash and coin. An internal efficiency survey was emailed to everyone the night before. A few used this downtime to help the bank understand their level of satisfaction with their respective managers along with the working environment within the branch. Alice Durand was the Assistant Branch Manager and she was strongly opposed to having idle staff making busy work or chatting about. She felt it was bad for morale and dulled the sense of urgency to serve customers during busier times. By 2:00pm she confirmed an early departure for two tellers including Bingo and a number of people in the loan department that included Porter.

Mid-afternoon on a Wednesday did not align to the bus schedule that dropped Porter within a half mile of the complex that held his single room efficiency. Before Porter could look for the cheapest ride on his phone app, Bingo slapped the back of his shoulder. “Let’s do Great Cabin, it’s halfway to where you’re headed. Save a buck and order your ride from there.”