Paul's plight was featured last night on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360. Click the link below to watch the segment and be sure to send it to your friends.
16 Responses to TEAMPAUL on CNN
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About this Site
Continuing the memory of, and searching for justice for, Paul Maidman. Son, Brother, Boyfriend, Friend.
Paul's Facebook is also being maintained by his family and friends.
katie
August 5th, 2010 at 1515:AugAug
This story has touched me more than any story in a long time. We hear about drunk driving victims often, but none w/such a dedicated & loving family! I'm inspired!
Jennie Skellenger
August 5th, 2010 at 1616:AugAug
My husband and I were hit head-on by a drunk driver (2005) who was double the legal limit and this was his third DUII.
We live in Oregon, my husband has now passed away from an illness that started with his injuries.
To Teampaul: GOOD FOR YOU!!! You will make a difference for all of us.
Alissa Alessi
August 5th, 2010 at 1717:AugAug
This story has touched so many hearts ! It's amazing how you dont have to know someone and the love of reaching out to touch others with such an inspiring story of Love, courage , and the fight for justice is truely a blessing.
I posted it to help fight DUI and hopefully more people will think before they drink.
Im from LasVegas who has a teen and is taking her drivers test this month . This scares me :(
TEAM PAUL : I'll Stand By You !!!
patricia
August 5th, 2010 at 2121:AugAug
I grieve for you and your family. I know what you are going through, believe me. My youngest daugther was killed by a drunk driver while on her way to work in 2008. She left 3 children, the baby only 18 months old. There absolutely, positively has to be stricter, enforceable laws to curtail this senseless, murderous behavior on our roads and highways.
My prayers are with you.
HOWARD
August 6th, 2010 at 1212:AugAug
I cannot imagine how I would deal with the magnitude of your loss. I truly hope the drunk driver in your daughter's case was brought to justice. 57 year old Kathleen Moorhead was killed by suspected drunk driver Ruel Sasser Saturday July 17, 2010. Kathleen was a vibrant lady, formerly an Army major, and the supervisor of my office. I'm tring to see it the Team Paul concept can help her family in keeping track of the case to make sure that Mr. Sasser does not have the ability to impact another family any time soon. I would like to get in touch with someone from Team Paul to see if a similar website for Kathleen would prove helpful in assisting her family in this way. Any thought by anyone.
@dandmb50 - Daniel .. Toronto
August 7th, 2010 at 0000:AugAug
Well done, you are a great inspiration to Paul and this women and many others are at fault and must be punished severely. Just at the start of August our Ontario Government in Canada banned anyone under 22 from drinking a drop of alcohol, while driving in our Province. I have had that rule since I was a young man, and it should be enforced everywhere. If you have "any" alcohol you should NOT drive, period.
I will not rest until this law is amended/enacted everywhere, and commend you for what you are doing.
Daniel .. Toronto, CANADA
http://bit.ly/bKGa13
Nike knowles
August 8th, 2010 at 2020:AugAug
"Kerri I've never known anyone more fitting of the term "sociopath" than MD. I think a stoning would be more appropriate than a prison sentence. Or at least they could let us line up and each get one good punch to the face in before they haul her off for good. "
*THAT WOULD BE A CRIME!!! FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NOT BROKEN THE LAW AND POST DOZENS OF THESE COMMENT. COMMENTS LIKE THESE AIMED AT MD, HER FAMILY (DAUGHTER AND FRIENDS (CHILDREN) ARE A DAMN CRIME!!
Dawn F
August 8th, 2010 at 2222:AugAug
I haven't seen any comments directed at her family or children and have as a matter of fact had several conversations with members of the childs family. None that were negative or deparaging in nature. Please go some place else if you wish to try and start a fight this is not the place.
Kerri Green
August 9th, 2010 at 0000:AugAug
NIKE KNOWLES:
Whatever.... When someone kills a person YOU love, then proves they have no remorse for it whatsoever by (breaking the law again) goes out and parties it up.... then come back here and tell me that you wouldn't want to PUNCH THAT PERSON IN THE FACE JUST ONCE.
Chris Green
August 16th, 2010 at 0909:AugAug
My heart sank when I saw this on the news this morning. I am in tears after watching the memorial video posted on this site by his sister. My thoughts, condolences and prayers are with Paul's soul, his family
Knowing the driver went right back to drinking/clubbing after making bail says to me that she has absolutely no remorse or regret for what she has done to this wonderful human being, his family and friends. I truly believe bail should not have been raised, it should have been revoked, PERIOD!
Seeing scenes like Paul's accident scene, over and over again sends the same question yelling at the top of my voice from my mouth...."When are we going to start shutting down the bars that continue to serve obviously intoxicated patrons more alcohol???" Dalton is completely to blame for her actions, but what is being done to the bar who continued to serve her drink after drink and allow her to leave their parking lot behind her wheel??!!
If I have one or two drinks a YEAR, that is a lot. When I go out with friends I drink Sprite all night. Still...I can understand the average person going out for a beer or two, here and there, I know I am the exception to the rule. I have watched bartenders serving drinks to people who couldn't stand up straight.
BARS NEED TO BE HELD RESPONSIBLE!!! There are laws in most states against any bartender serving a patron who is obviously intoxicated. Unfortunately, most bars refuse to turn customers away, looking at their financial bottom-line before the safety of the patron and the public.
I am sure the bar she was at has a bouncer to keep people out of the bar for whatever reason. When are the bars going to be made responsible for not allowing the people to get totally plastered, or at least making sure they don't leave in anything but a taxi or a sober friend's car?
I hope Paul's family and friends do everything they possibly can to bring charges against the bartender(s) and the drinking establishment. Only when victims families bring charges against the bars for over-serving patrons, will we see the bars start to take the responsibility that is theirs already! I hope Paul's family and friends organize a boycott of the bar, picketting, bringing legal charges against the bartender and owner, and sue. Only when the families of victims of drunk driving accidents do this will the bars start taking the responsibility seriously that they have under the laws already on the books!
Hugs full of luv to all who are being impacted by this tragedy,
Chris Green
LISA DEMARCO
August 16th, 2010 at 0909:AugAug
I'm sorry for your lose. I know what u are going threw, know one knows the feeling unless one goes threw it. Seek the LORD JESUS so u will have the PEACE in your HEART, seek the LORD every day, every minute and u will see. JESUS will bring u to the truth, every WORD of GOD, the BIBLE IS THE TRUTH NOT THE WORLD AND THE LORD TELLS U THAT IN IS WORD. ACTS:5:29:MATTHEW:4:1:4. Start at the beginning of the BIBLE and JESUS will lead u and in time be filled with the HOLY SPIRIT so u will understand and have the KNOWLEDGE that the LORD spoke about in the new LIFE in the HOLY SPIRIT. Whe4n that does finaaly happen you will not even begin to be able to hold all the knowledge, your head and HEART will be changed and that is what your SON will want not to fight back. Pray for the girl so she will come out of sin, out of EYGPT) i know this because i lost my son, he was shot to death(2003) and I seeked and Knocked constintly at the door of GODS HEART and found the truth just like HE said to do and after a few years i found the PEACE HE was talking about and the truth that JESUS spoke of ( you need every word of GOD) the truth is in HIS word and ONLY if you seek HIM day and NIght HE will real the4 truths. It is hard at first but has you keep going to the Father one on one, You will see. Believe what i am telling you and do not go to the world . there is only one TRUE GOD and very few will find HIM, GODS TRUE servants. The servants who obey HIS TEACHINGS. FOLLOW HIS LAWS and COMMANDMENTS and keep HIS SABBATH HOLY just like HE tells us to do. that is for all the WORLD. MAY the LORD call you today TO his spiritual self and open up that door, keep knocking. PEACE be with YOU.
gordon sutton
August 16th, 2010 at 1010:AugAug
Allot of death and damage (human and material) on our road's are due to drunk driver's
( Allot don't have driver's licenses because of other DU I' s ) But they still drive!!
Also allot of family abuse is due to Alcohol. The police and judge's have tried to stop drunk driving, domestic violence, and public drunkenness, by pulling license's, big fine's and probation.. But it don't seen to work.
Allot of the time the judge's hear I am sorry but I was drunk at the time so please let me
off easy, I won't do it any more. ( 3 or 4 time's ) My thought is all state's require I.D. to
buy alcohol and allot of state's put a C or CYL on your licenses to be able to drive a
motorcycle. So when you are old enough the state could put a big D on your licenses or
I.D. which would allow you to buy alcohol, No D--NO Alcohol.
Allot of our Government representative's will be against this because of all the federal, state, and city tax's that would be lost by a law like this. But it would save lives!!
I would like you to think about this: Alcohol is a drug ( a special drug ). We have The
Drug enforcement Agent's and the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm's. If
this plan saved one life on the road or in the home would it be worth it???
Beverly
August 16th, 2010 at 1010:AugAug
I lost a cousin to a drunk driver when I was a child. It changed my Aunt and Uncle forever. This problem has been around for decades. DUI is handled much more severely in europe and has changed the public response. In Germany people use bus transport when they are partying. Here we routinely give a slap on the wrist to those who figure that they are ALLOWED to get "away with anything" in their lifetime. Let's get tough on DUI as a nation. I have listened to 55 years of excuses by countless drunks, seen remorse, apologies and tearful news interviews only to hear that the perpetrators have been involved in another DUI. I believe that we will all have to stand in front of God and be judged, but I also believe that God would want us to protect the innocent from the carnage that DUI causes. God bless you for your efforts. I will pray for your family and your work to fight this blight on our nation.
eileen hill
August 16th, 2010 at 1212:AugAug
What a waste! Paul is gone, and the person who killed him had the nerve to go out drinking and partying again. Hope she gets a long sentence.
eileen hill
August 16th, 2010 at 1212:AugAug
what a waste! Paul is gone, and the person who killed him had the nerve to go out drinking and PARTYING again! Hope she gets a long sentence.
Frank M
September 8th, 2010 at 1414:SepSep
Transcript
ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES
Aired August 4, 2010 - 22:00 ET
COOPER: In "Crime ∋
When an Air Force veteran was killed by a drunk driver, his family and friends turned to his Facebook page to pay tribute to his life but also to track the woman who took it. Here's Ted Rowlands.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paul Maidman was 28, a student up pulling an all-nighter. At 3 a.m. on a Friday, he went out to make copies and buy an energy drink. He was killed by a drunk driver.
DAWN BUIST, MAIDMAN'S SISTER: It's by far the worst day in all of our lives.
ROWLANDS: Paul's sister Dawn says her brother was a computer genius who served eight years in the Air Force, had a great job, and was working on a degree because he wanted to run for political office.
BUIST: To get to that point that everybody wants to be at in life, to have it stolen from him in the middle of the night like that is so -- so unbelievable. It's so unfair.
ROWLANDS: Paul Maidman left something behind. A few years ago, he created a Web site to keep up with friends. He called it Team Paul. And as a joke, he made a "Team Paul" T-shirt with his face on it. Now his family is using Team Paul to fight for justice against the driver who killed him.
(on camera) Maidman was sitting at this intersection, waiting for the light to change when he was hit from behind. You can see the yellow lines in the road here showing how his car was pushed all the way across the road into this pole. His car came to rest over here where these yellow boxes represent the placement of the tires of the vehicle.
Maidman died on the way to the hospital. Police say the person that hit him was traveling at more than 80 miles per hour.
(voice-over) The driver is 29-year-old Miranda Dalton. Police say she never used her brakes. Earlier, she'd been out drinking, $1 cocktails on ladies' night at this Las Vegas country bar.
On the bar's Web site, they actually have video of Dalton dancing from last year, and she posed for this photo the night of the fatal crash.
According to the police report at the accident scene, Dalton's speech was so slurred an officer thought she had a foreign object in her mouth. Her blood alcohol level was over twice the legal limit, and she had a prior DUI conviction in 2001. On the day of Paul Maidman's wake, two things happened. Dalton was released on bail, and Team Paul came back to life. The Web site and a new Facebook page became a rallying point to urge people to pressure the legal system not to go lightly on Dalton.
It also became a spontaneous surveillance network. Within weeks, people were starting to report on Dalton's whereabouts. Then, on what would have been Paul's 29th birthday, his sister got a call.
(on camera) The call came from this Las Vegas bar. The caller said that Miranda Dalton was inside partying.
(voice-over) The court had ordered her not to drink. She was wearing an ankle device to detect alcohol.
BUIST: Something came over me. I said, get in your car, just go there, see for yourself if she's even actually there.
ROWLANDS (on camera): When she arrived, she found Dalton inside, got out her cell phone, and started taking pictures.
(voice-over) The photos show Dalton with her hair dyed and wearing glasses. When a judge saw the photos and learned the ankle device might have been tampered with, she raised her bail to a half million dollars, and Dalton was back in jail.
MIRANDA DALTON, SUSPECT: Miranda Dalton.
ROWLANDS: Dalton pled guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced this month. Maidman's family attended this hearing wearing Team Paul T-shirts.
Outside, Dalton's friend defended her.
MELISSA ALDERMAN, FRIEND: There's more to her than just the accident that happened that night. There's a lot more to her. She's a mother. She's a friend. She's a daughter. I mean, her choices were wrong, clearly, obviously. But to try to push for a harsher penalty, I don't think it's going to do more justice.
ROWLANDS: About 3,000 people are on the Team Paul Facebook page. They agree it is about justice.
BUIST: It can never be hard enough on her, ever. Because she's done it before. And she would do it again. And the next time it could be my child or my neighbor's child.
ROWLANDS: Paul's family is hoping to grow Team Paul even bigger. They'd like to see it push for harsher drunk driving laws around the country so other families don't have to suffer like they are.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Las Vegas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: What a strong family.