Ex-detective dies in a motorcycle crash

Couple had high blood alcohol levels before fatal crash, tests show

Ex-detective, driving motorcycle, was at three times the legal limit

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

A retired Austin police detective and his wife, a commander, had blood alcohol levels far above the legal limit to drive before they died in a motorcycle crash Saturday, according to preliminary toxicology results by the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office.

Kurt Jacobson, who retired from the Austin Police Department as a detective in 2002, was driving his Harley-Davidson with a blood alcohol level of 0.24 — three times the state limit of 0.08 — said Medical Examiner Roberto Bayardo. Cmdr. Shauna Jacobson had a blood alcohol level of 0.33, or more than four times the legal limit, Bayardo said.

Bayardo said the test showed no trace of drugs. He said he doesn't expect the blood alcohol results to be different when the final report is finished. His office said final toxicology results typically take 21 days to complete.

The Jacobsons had been participating in a charity ride with dozens of other officers to benefit a police victims assistance counselor who had multiple sclerosis. The last stop on the charity ride was at Cedars Bar and Grill on Texas 71 in Spicewood.

Kurt Jacobson drove his motorcycle into the crowded restaurant and spun his rear wheel until it created enough smoke to clear out the restaurant, said owner Bobby Joe Bailey.

Two hours later, the couple was dead after their motorcycle crashed into a guardrail less than a mile east of the restaurant, which is near Bee Creek in western Travis County.

A Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman said earlier this week that the Jacobsons were not wearing helmets and that speed was a factor in the crash.

The Austin Police Department plans to launch an internal inquiry next week to find out whether other officers witnessed the incident and if so, how they reacted.

The Austin Police Department declined to comment Wednesday.

"I don't think we're going to do that today," spokesman Kevin Buchman said. "We're going to bury our officers first."

Funeral services are set for Thursday.

Sad Story, but it shows the cops are not the angels they pertend to be when passing judgement on regular folks.

OMG, a whole 12 beers! If they were that staggering drunk, don't ya think someone there would have noticed? Why don't we just go back to prohibition? This is just a GD witch hunt.


Son: Officers would have stopped couple
Man says he's sure mom and stepdad didn't seem drunk before fatal crash.

Edward Dreslinski is son of Shauna Jacobson and says he trusts 'everyone who was at the bar.'

By Tony Plohetski

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

In the midst of grieving the loss of his mother and stepfather, Edward Dreslinski says he is comforted by at least one belief: that fellow police officers would have stopped Shauna and Kurt Jacobson from getting on their motorcycle if they had been visibly drunk.

Shauna Jacobson, an Austin police commander, and Kurt Jacobson, a retired Austin detective, died Dec. 11 when they crashed shortly after leaving a restaurant on Texas 71 west of Austin.

"I am convinced they showed no signs of intoxication," Dreslinski said Tuesday in his first interview since his mother and her husband died.

Based on conversations he's had with people who were at the restaurant that night, Dreslinski said, "I have no doubt if anyone thought my mother was in danger, they would have stopped them. I completely trust everyone who was at the scene, everyone who was at the bar."

Kurt Jacobson had a blood-alcohol level of 0.24, three times the state limit of 0.08 for driving, according to autopsy results. Shauna Jacobson had a blood-alcohol level of 0.33.

The Jacobsons had been participating in a motorcycle charity ride hours before their wreck in western Travis County.

They concluded their route at the Cedars Bar and Grill in Spicewood, where the couple joined dozens of other participants, including police officers, in a barbecue dinner and silent auction.

At one point during the evening, Kurt Jacobson drove his motorcycle inside the restaurant, damaging its floor by revving the engine and spinning a tire.

Documents released Tuesday by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission showed that a restaurant employee served the Jacobsons two or three beers while they sat at a table near the bar. Kurt Jacobson bought three more 12-ounce Bud Light beers for about $9, the documents said.

According to the documents, commission investigators interviewed the waitress, who said Jacobson asked her to charge $109 to his credit card so that he could use $100 for the silent auction.

Travis County Medical Examiner Roberto Bayardo has estimated that the couple each had at least 10 to 12 beers and that Shauna Jacobson was probably staggering.

Police Chief Stan Knee has ordered an independent investigation into the incident, including whether other officers should have tried to stop the Jacobsons from leaving the restaurant.

Knee said in a Tuesday news conference that the city will hire a law firm for about $50,000 to conduct the inquiry.

Knee said the charity event "involved much more than a single couple drinking and driving and that it could possibly have involved multitudes of police officers being involved in activities that were inappro- priate."

Dreslinski said he has spoken to several people who were at the restaurant and they told him the Jacobsons did not appear drunk. He declined to name them.

Dreslinski said he is also convinced that his mother would not have climbed onto her husband's motorcycle had she realized he was drunk.

Dreslinski said he decided Tuesday morning to speak with the media after learning that someone had planted a sign at the crash scene that read, "These people died because they thought they were outside the law."

"If there is one person who didn't think they were outside the law, it was my mother," he said. "She truly believed in doing what was right."

He described Shauna Jacobson as "one of the most honorable people in the world" and said that she loved all things Texan. The couple's home was decorated with Texas flags, and her garden was packed with wildflowers.

Dreslinski said that he was 7 years old when his mother became a police officer and that he watched proudly as she rose through the ranks. He said she most frequently talked about being in the department's homicide unit, where she worked to help crack the city's infamous yogurt shop murder case.

Most recently, he said, she had dedicated herself to his 4-year-old daughter, Sophie, who had spent the night with her grandmother the night before the wreck. Dreslinski said his mother wanted to home-school Sophie after she retired in two years.

"She spent her whole life protecting her family, the people of Austin and anyone else in need," Dreslinski said. "She was the definition of a role model."

I don't appear drunk when I am either, but I'm drunk none the less. If this was me or you we'd be just another drunk that died on a bike and they'd be sueing our family to fix the guard rail we broke when we crashed.

If it were me or any of you and we should have happened to survive we would have ended up under the jail

I'm sure nobody on this site drinks and then rides, right?

Man, it is just not worth it. The chances that you will make a bad judgement call are just too high.

I'm sure nobody on this site drinks and then rides, right?

Man, it is just not worth it. The chances that you will make a bad judgement call are just too high.

How's that saying go? "The road to hell is paved with good intention."

Be careful out there, it's easy to get caught up in a moment and forget your priorities.