HILLSBORO, Ore. — On Saturday, families and friends of victims of drunk driving went for a walk in Hillsboro for a purpose at the 2023 Walk Like MADD Portland. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) held the event at Rood Bridge Park for fundraising, awareness and honoring those who have tragically been lost in a drunk-driving crash.
Among those who walked were Justine Baker and her family.
"You can wake up any day and your day can change for forever," Baker said. "We woke up on Aug. 3, and we became a part of this group that we never wanted to be included in."
Justine Baker's sister, Danielle Abrahams, was killed less than two months ago in Vancouver by a driver suspected to be under the influence. Danielle was sitting in her home when a car crashed through the wall of her house and hit her, killing her.
"She had just gotten home from work, she was texting me on her phone, and she was sitting on the couch with my brother," Baker said. "My brother went to hand the dog to her and he said before he even turned around to sit back down, the couch wasn't underneath him anymore and when he looked over for my sister, there was a car."
This week, Justine flew in from Denver to be a part of the MADD walk.
"We want to bring awareness to drugged and drunk driving," Baker said. "I don't think there's enough that's been done for it currently, and the maximum sentence that my sister's offender will get will be six to nine years. For taking a life, that's not enough."
At the walk, pictures of victims as well as statistics lined the path. Those who participated didn't walk a certain distance, but a symbolic amount of time: 45 minutes.
"That is to reflect this statistic in America: approximately every 45 minutes somebody is killed by an impaired driver," said Cate Duke, programs director for MADD.
Duke said we're hitting crisis levels of impaired driving cases.
"When you're out having a good time, when you're planning to go somewhere, somehow travel arrangements seem to be the last thing that are taken into consideration," Duke said. "We are seeing double digit increases in fatal crashes across the country."
Unfortunately — and fortunately — that's when MADD comes in.
"It's an important resource to have if something like this happens to you, and it happens to more families than it ever should," Baker said. "She's helped us with resources, she's helped us coordinate the death certificates and different funds that you can apply for to help financial means, because this is a big financial devastation."
MADD holds several walks each year. The next one is in Bend in two weeks.
The suspect in the deadly crash that killed Abrahams, identified as Karen Baker, is set to be in court this week with a trial scheduled for later in October.