Foundation for Ashley's Dream

Articles about Ashley and other drunk driving news

Oakland County Jail

Jail overcrowding spills inmates into the streets; to make room, the state's county prisons have to let nonviolent offenders out early.

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Drunk Driving Is Finally In Context

Recently noted drunk driving attorney Robert Larin lashed out at anti-drunk driving groups for their so-called influence on legislators and judges. He indicated these groups are exerting undue influence by "controlling and scaring legislators and judges while taking the alcohol issue out of proper context."

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Jail Overcrowding Spills Inmates Into Streets

Michigan's county jail system is increasingly at or exceeding its capacity, straining county resources and regularly freeing criminals before their sentences are complete.

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"Buck A Book" Reading Challenge

Participate in the Baldwin Library reading challenge benefiting our Foundation. Read a book during the summer of 2005!

Buck a Book Program

What If The Drunk Driver Survives? Her Very Real Consequences

Like many in their early 20s, Lisa Glaza wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to do with her life. Though definite plans were not yet formed, she had goals: finish school, find a career in either child or geriatric care and start a family.
Crime wasn't a part of her plans, but prison is where she now sits - because of her decision to drive after drinking.

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Ashley's Dreams Come True at the Library

It could have been just another newspaper clipping, a tragedy slowly forgotten over time.

David Easterbrook wouldn't let that happen.

His daughter, Ashley, along with fellow Troy High students Michael Jamieson and Andy Stindt, was killed by a drunken driver in 1997. They were out for some coffee. A 33-year-old motorist, on her way home from a night at the bar, ran a red light and smashed into their car at Crooks and Long Lake.

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MADD Dad: Sobriety checks will save lives

Troy resident David Easterbrook will be far more than an interested observer in what may be the latest battle over the legality of sobriety checkpoints in Michigan.

"It would be a long shot, but on the off chance that a sobriety checkpoint had been set up on Crooks Road, my daughter might be alive today," said Easterbrook, whose daughter, Ashley, 18, died June 3, 1997, when a drunken driver ran a red light at Long Lake and Crooks roads in Troy.

Two of Ashley's friends, Andrew Stindt, 19, and Michael Jamieson, 19, also were killed in the crash, as was the drunken driver.

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Dad gets last word; drunken driver gets jail

David Easterbrook's life changed forever the night in June when a drunken driver slammed into the car carrying his daughter, killing her instantly.

This week, he changed forever the life of another drunken driver -- a stranger whose arrest he witnessed and who mistook him on a dark road for a cop, then stunned him by saying, "You should be out arresting murderers.... I hope your daughter dies."

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Ad recalls Troy teen 1997 victim of drunken driving featured in campaign

On hundreds of stations, including Detroit-area channels, viewers will see her laugh, sing and hug her friend on a home video. Then they'll read sobering words:

"Ashley Easterbrook, treasured friend, killed by a drunk driver four days before graduation. Friends don't let friends drive drunk."

Easterbrook died in 1997 in a crash that also killed two of her friends and the 31-year-old motorist who hit their car in Troy.

She joins a series of young subjects memorialized in public-service campaigns to prevent drunken driving. For a radio version, Easterbrook's 19-year-old brother, Adam Easterbrook, will read excerpts from her diary that express his sister's deep fear of drunken drivers and premonition of death.

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Youth's life celebrated on website

His daughter was gone. In a second.

This kid, this wonderful dynamite kid just five days from graduating high school had gone for coffee with two friends home from college and a drunken driver ran a red light and crashed into their car going 80 mph.

David Easterbrook remembers feeling like climbing to the top of the tallest building and shouting a warning to every parent and every kid about the loss, about what could happen. In a sense, that's what he's done.

Photos of Ashley Easterbrook are on some of the tallest billboards in Oakland County, along with an eerily fateful passage from her diary where the Troy High School senior had written to God asking him to keep her and her friends safe on the road. One of the billboards stands over northbound Wide Track Drive in Pontiac.

Last week, Easterbrook and his wife Gail launched a web site - www.ashleysdream.org - about the scholarship fund created in their daughter's memory. The site includes passages from Ashley's diary, photos, editorial comments, news and links to educational sites on drunken driving. Her parents found the diary on the morning of her funeral.

Dear God, Well, I wanted to write and say that I just heard the best poem about a girl who didn't drink but got killed by a drunk driver. The poem is sad but true. It's never the person who drank who gets hurt. Please help me and everyone to be safe on the road. It's scary to think of the people who I know that drink, that maybe a friend of mine, could injure or kill me, or another one of my friends. It scares me to death. Literally.

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Archived Articles

2006 - 2006 Local Scholarship Winners Announced

2006 - 2006 Internet Scholarship Winner Announced

2006 - Drunk Driving Is Finally In Context

2006 - Scholarship Internet Winner Announced

2005 - Ashley's Dream 5K Run/Walk

2005 - Sober Driver Charged in Drag Racing Death

2005 - MADD Dad Sobriety Checks Will Save Lives

2004 - Internet Scholarship Winners

2003 - Revealing Look at the Impact of Drunk Driving Crashes

2001 - Roadside Sign