Chronic Drunk Driver Killed by Drunk Driver

Haitham Gamal was on bicycle, getting his life straight
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted May 11, 2014 7:58 AM CDT
Chronic Drunk Driver Killed by Drunk Driver
A thrice-convicted drunk driver "on the road to recovery" was allegedly killed by a drunk driver.   (Shutterstock)

Haitham Gamal "was on the road to recovery" after three drunk-driving convictions, says his lawyer. Unfortunately, he was also on the road—on his bike, as per a California-mandated license suspension—when a 19-year-old driver who was allegedly drunk and speeding hit and killed the 38-year-old Gamal. "He was doing the right thing, and somebody hit him that had been drinking," lawyer Walter Cole tells the OC Register. "A lot of my clients are in denial. He wasn't." Gamal was sentenced the day before his death to five years' probation and 45 days in jail; he leaves behind a wife and young children. Charges for the driver are pending blood test results, police say. "Obviously, any kind of fatal crash that involves alcohol, I think, just speaks to the dangers of drinking," says an Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman. (More drunk driving stories.)

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