Daughter Calls 911 On Father During DUI

Authorities have released the audio from a 9-year-old's frantic 911 call, made while her father drove drunk with her and her younger sister in the vehicle. "Hello, is this 911? ... The only person that's here is my dad and he's drunk. My dad is drunk… Help me, please help me!” The call lasted 17 minutes and is laden with the 9-year-old's cries of distress and pleads with her father to pull over. The incident occurred on Sunday, February 5th around 4 pm in Glynn County, GA.

The father, Wesley Burgner, 36 and his two daughters were more than 300 miles from their Atlanta home, traveling through St. Simon's Island. The girl had been led to believe they were on their way to their grandparent's house, before taking note of her father's drunkenness and admitting that she did not know where they were going. "He's driving really fastly. I don't know where he is taking me, but I think he is going to get into a wreck... I don't know where I am right now. Daddy, stop the friggin car! Stop the car. Pull over somewhere!” She informed the dispatcher that she could see two bottles of alcohol and knew he had manipulated a breathalyzer device installed in his car. “I don't want my dad to go to jail, but he's drunk!”

Once the dispatcher calmed the child down, she was able to recall her grandparent's address. The drunken father commuted the vehicle to the grandparent's house thankfully without incident. Police were directed to the address where they found the father, the girls, and the vehicle. Burgner, who held his younger daughter, was “visibly intoxicated... had slurred, slowed speech, had trouble standing, had trouble formulating sentences, stumbled when he walked and smelled of an alcoholic beverage," the police report said - adding that "Wesley admitted he had been driving.” According to Burgner's version of events, he had been taking his daughters to the pier, but turned around and returned to his parents' house when one of the girls became upset. He allegedly only drank once returning to the house, then threw the bottle away. Police were unable to recover said bottle.

After refusing a field sobriety test, police spoke to the daughter again. She told them her father regularly “hacked” his breathalyzer device, permitting him to drive. Records of Burgner, a hotel manager, show no prior drunk driving offenses. He was promptly arrested at the scene and taken to Glynn County Detention Center. He is charged with DUI, endangering a child under 14 years of age, and driving on a suspended license.

If you are charged with a DUI in the state of Georgia, waste no time in contacting an experienced DUI attorney. Fulton County DUI Attorney Richard Lawson has people available to pay immediate attention to your case, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.