Baby, you seeing that? Yep. That was not an animal. Okay. It was no animal. There was not something I didn't do. Where are they at? Why are they making me sit like this? Please. I didn't. I swear to God. It was late at night on a quiet bridge. Three friends were walking home. Minutes later, two would be gone. And the driver behind it all claimed she thought she hit an animal. But what really happened on that pedestrian path? And how did one mistake spiral into tragedy? On May 22nd, 2022, a 911 call sent officers racing to the I74 pedestrian walkway. When they arrived, they were met with a harrowing scene. Three young men had been struck. One was pronounced dead on arrival. Another was critically injured. The third, bloodied and in shock, tried to explain what had happened. What followed wasn't just a DUI investigation. It was the unraveling of a tragic chain of events that could have been prevented. She's still down here then. That's the mom or her guy's friend Mario. So the female in here was the driver though. I know. Yeah. She was standing outside the car. Sorry. Okay. I'm What's going on? I don't know. That's what I'm going to ask you. You're coming from Molen, right? Yeah. Moline. Did you see anything on the road here? Yeah. You going to drive from that way? How do you I mean this? Yeah. I hear you. I don't know. All right. I get my command. I get my head on this. So, I lost the social police department. So, I just kind of I was talking to the officer. I just want to like kind of verify a few things. So, that's your SUV then? Yes. Okay. And you were coming from Davenport or No, right off that bridge right there. The new bridge over here from Bendor or Right there. I was coming to that up under here. Yeah. Where were you at before you on the bridge? Were you in Dor? Down here. Rock Island. No. Down here. Up to that. There's anybody else in the car. Just where you coming from? Right there. Where were you at? Where were you at when you were coming? Mom, I went and got me some drinks to go there and I was coming over here. Where's the border there? Yeah. No, we don't have Are you right there by my job? Okay. Yeah. Feeling okay then? I mean, reasonably. No, I'm not feeling okay cuz I'm trying to figure out what's going on. I mean, but your legs are hurting? Okay. You didn't hit your head on anything? I might have, but right now, I don't know. So, your neck feels okay? I'm fine. Physically okay. I'm just a little confused. I'm sorry. I got you. Okay. All right. Okay. If you want to We'll let these guys get back. They're pretty busy tonight, too. Crazy busy. It's insane. So, uh, just because of the accident, I'm going to run you through a few tests. Is that okay? Okay, baby. So, stand right here. Stand right here for me. You said you don't have any problems with your legs, knee problems. Perfect. I mean, my knees are weak, but I mean, okay. And you okay walking in those shoes? Oh, yeah, baby. Okay. So, maybe just come over here with me. Stand right here. Put You're going to put your left foot here. Oh my god. Yeah, I know. It's okay, baby. It's just a car. That was no vehicle. That was So, do No. Okay. Face me now. Now, when I tell you to begin, I want you to take nine heel toe steps forward. Okay? Nine. Okay. Nine. It'll look just like this. 1 2 3. You're going to go all the way up to nine. Make sure you touch your heel to your toe each time and count steps out loud. Okay. Go ahead and begin for me. Ready? Yep. Go ahead and begin for me, baby. So, y'all see somebody back there. Well, we're dealing with that. We're going to do this first. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. I'm sorry. So, get back in starting position like I showed you. Ready? Yep. Miss Harris, get back to starting position like I showed you and then go ahead and begin when you're ready. Sorry. My legs are big. Ready? I peed on myself. That's okay. Sorry. Yep. Go ahead and begin. Yep. Keep your hands down by your side for me and cut out loud. A damaged white SUV was soon located nearby. Inside was 24-year-old Shabria. She appeared disoriented and deeply distressed, struggling to understand what had just occurred. At first, she believed she had hit an animal. Officers began asking questions and conducted field sobriety tests. Her responses were inconsistent. Her balance was off, her emotions raw, and unpredictable. What we witnessed in those moments wasn't just a suspect failing a sobriety test. It was a young woman unraveling, overwhelmed by confusion, fear, and guilt. Keep your hands down to your side. No, no, no, no. This is the one where you're just going to pick one foot up like I showed. Keep your hands at your side. Pick either foot up. Hold it 6 in off the ground. Stare at your foot. Start counting out loud for me. 10,00 1,002. All right. Ready? Yep. Begin. No, no, no. You're just you're just raising your foot. Remember, just raise one foot and then start counting out loud for me. Okay. And if you put your foot down, you can't do it. I can't. Okay. Okay. Don't change your back for me. Okay. You placing for DUI. All right. Okay. All right. Nothing in there. Perfect. All right. And I'll be able to take another test when I get downtown. Yep. I'm going to have you do some paperwork first and then um I'll give you another test for me. Okay. Hey, one step back and I'll hit you. Like I said, she might bark, but she there's a lot of glass, so she won't be able to get you. Go ahead and drop up there for me. I got you. You don't fall. I'm tall. Yep. No, I'm tall, too. I I know. I know the struggle. Let me get right here. Yep. I got you. There we go. There we go. I won't let you fall. Because one second, man. I'll talk to you. Um because of the accident and the way she performed on the test, I suspicion that she's intoxicated. So, I'm going to go take her down to Mullen Police Department. Anything happened your way? Yes, you did. Can you tell me? I can. Um if you want to call down to Mullen Police Department for help, my command is up there. Discretion want to go. He's working. Yeah, he's we got a lot going on tonight. So, but yeah, so she'll be going down there first and then we'll kind of go from there. if you want to call my command. I mean, that's I just But something critical had been missed. Shabria wasn't driving on the road. She had mistakenly driven onto a pedestrianon section of the bridge, separated by barriers and designed exclusively for foot traffic. Surveillance footage and physical evidence confirmed what she had yet to accept. She had struck three people walking where they were legally allowed to be. This wasn't just a traffic violation. It was a catastrophic lapse in judgment. one that demanded answers not just from the suspect, but from the system that enabled it. To get down to the PD. Okay, baby. But did y'all see it was an animal, though? We We can talk about that later, too. Okay. Huh? We'll talk about that here in a minute. Oh my god. Can you tell me anything? Is she okay? Like I said, we'll get down to the PD and we'll we'll talk about some stuff. Was she in? I don't even know. Never mind. Okay. Okay. Oh my god. I'm being taken to the Rock Island County Jail. Does that mean something something's wrong with the person that was in front of me? No, you're not being taken to jail right now, ma'am. We're going to the hospital first. Okay. But baby, all I'm saying is I don't know what messed up my truck. I know somebody was there. Okay. Please tell me something. Please. I said once we get to the hospital just so I'm not like yelling back and forth we'll talk about it more. Okay. I'm not going to yell. I'm not yelling. I'm not yelling. I was just cold back here. I'm sorry. I mean just I have to like raise my voice so you can hear me so we can talk easier once we get face to face at the hospital. Okay. And then I'll be able to go to potty cuz I got to go potty again. And I already peed on myself. Yep. Once we get there I'll let you go. That's fine. I don't even know something's wrong with me cuz I don't even care. I'm I'm tripping about that. I know it wasn't a raccoon. It was not. You're taking me to the hospital, correct? Yes, ma'am. Okay. But why in handcuffs? Well, XX. That's procedure. Well, no, because I placed you under arrest for the DUI. A DUI? The suspicion of Yeah, suspicion of DUI. Oh, because I couldn't walk the line and and what I saw in your eyes, in your breath. Yo, it I was just nervous cuz I ain't even had no drinks like that. But okay, I understand. All right, sit back real quick. Get the seat belt off and we'll get you out of here. Okay. All right. You going to step out for me? My mom here? Nope. Uh, your mom's down at the police department talking with some other officers. Is that bad? No. She just asked me where we were going. I thought we were going there first. She just went down there cuz she wanted to. Yeah. No, that's You're not just making me nervous. No, no, no. Don't be nervous. So, um, let me let's let's do this this way. Okay. We got a couple other officers coming up here. They're going to talk to you. They know more about what's going on than I do right now. Um, I can just take a little breaths and uh, we'll get through this. Yes, ma'am. Like I said, there's um, there's some other officers. I don't want to like mislead you. No, I don't want you to do nothing. Just tell me the real. What's up? Tell me the real, baby. What's going on? I said, there's a couple other officers. They're going to be able to explain about it than I am. Okay. Now, these are the officers. I said that we're on their way to talk to an animal. It's not an animal. I don't even eyes or anything yet. So, I just they got the blood. I can't believe we were just when officers informed her of the charges, reckless homicide, aggravated DUI. Shabria broke down, not out of defiance, but disbelief. It became clear that she wasn't processing this like someone trying to escape responsibility. She was a person in shock, struggling with the idea that a single decision had changed and ended multiple lives. What do we make of that reaction? It doesn't excuse the outcome, but it opens the door to a deeper conversation about accountability, emotional awareness, and substance use. It was the animal. Hey, Shabria, sit up. I don't want you to hyperventilate, girl. Where's my mom? Please give me my mom. It was no animal. It was no animal. I don't know where at your mom here. My mom is supposed to be here. Please. Please just get my mom. Please no animal. I don't even know. I don't understand nothing right now. Just come on. Everybody need to talk to me. Okay, just your breath. Hey. Hey, girl. Would you look at me for a second? Will you just take a deep breath for me? Okay. You understand what Sal You understand what Sal read to you, right? No. You don't understand. You don't understand your rights. Yes. I know my rights. Okay. You understand what he said then? That's a question. You understand your rights? Like you have the right to remain. You re you have the right to remain silent. Somebody died. Somebody did die. Whoa. and we just need to talk to you. Okay. We have to figure that out on your end. Okay. Where's my mom? Please get my mom in here with me. You're an adult. Okay. You're the same age as me. Okay. So, can you talk to us about last night? You know what day it is? It's Sunday right now. It was Saturday. So, so I went across to kick it with a couple of people cuz I never get to kick it with them cuz I work so much. I'm I'm fixing it in my home. Across the bridge? Yes. And I don't drive across the bridge, but I did tonight. And And I was um I went over there to Kiki with a couple of people, which was across the bridge. And then uh I was coming back across like I said, and I came back across the bridge, had got off the bridge, came all around a river drive, and then that's when it happened. Um, I thought it was an animal. Like I said, I thought it was an animal. So, I I hit the animal. Um, but like I said, it was a hard hit. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, what the I thought it was a deer, actually. You know, and I'm an animal person, so I was like, you know what? And like I said, when I seen my cuz I closed my eyes, my seat belt held me. Okay. So, I knew it was something serious. Mhm. I'm like, damn. And and I feel for I love animals. Yeah. Straight cat if you give it to me. You know what I'm saying? But like I said, my when I seen it, my roof caved up. I felt me jo. Like I said, thought it was an animal. Point blade period. So I pulled over. That's when I called you guys. Okay. I called my mom. I was like, "Mom, I think I hit a deer. I don't even know where the deer came from. She said, "Okay, baby, pull over." I called you guys. I called my son's dad. Mhm. Um by the time you guys all start pulling up, that's when too many people start pulling up and I start I can't remember nothing. Two of the victims were in their late teens and early 20s. They were just walking. The bridge's lighting was uneven, and the new pedestrian lane wasn't clearly marked for all drivers. Shabria herself admitted she rarely used that bridge and wasn't familiar with its layout. Was her confusion genuine? The evidence suggests so. But even if the mistake was honest, its consequences were irreversible. Something that I didn't do. Where are they at? Why are they making me sit like this? Sh. They need to get them cameras, baby, because this did not happen on the bridge. Okay. Where's his friend at? They were talking some other officers. Okay. So they they know what kind of vehicle actually struck him, right? Correct. But this is my thing. They struck him on the bridge. How many hours did this happen before I struck him? No, not hours, but how many I watched too much force 48. I'm not going to lie. Yeah. No, I'm I'm making a joke out of it now, but I'm not. I get you. You know what I'm saying? Because like I said, no, sweetie. Cuz I would had pulled over all the bread. Sure. Sure. What happened? Just Come on. Come on. Break it to me. I'm going away. Are you aware that a kid a kid died? [Music] Um, so say your first name again. Shabria. Shabria. So you after after we're done here, you're you're going to be arrested today, okay? And you're going to be charged with reckless homicide. You're driving a vehicle and you struck three people. Three. One's dead, one's going to die, and the other one's critically injured. That that part of the bridge that you were driving on, that's a sidewalk. That's not the bridge. Cars can't drive on there. So, you're driving off we call it's a pedestrian walkway. So, where you drove? Y'all got the cameras on that? We do. So, where's this where where is this part at? So, you're telling me I was driving on another side of the road supposed to be the Yeah. So, the bridge there's the Iowa down. Illinois bound. Those are separated. There's a gap. They're separated by concrete and they're also separated by water. And then to the west of that, to the west of the Illinois bound that's also separated by barriers and also separated by a gap, which you go down to the water, there's a pedestrian walkway that they built on the new I74 bridge. And you were driving on the walkway. I was on there and y'all seen it? I have not. I have not seen it, but that's No, they seen it. Yeah, that's where the kids are at. No, they seen it. They were going to see it. It'll be on camera. Okay, that's what I'm asking. It's on camera. It will be on camera. So, you're being charged with aggravated DUI resulting in death and reckless homicide. Okay. Yeah. They said I I hit him and I killed him. So, you know what I'm saying? to somebody else's baby that I killed him. And they got to they got to tell his mom and dad that I killed him because he was on the walkway on the bridge. Just go get my baby, mom, right now. Right now. Go get my baby. And hopefully I'll see y'all in court Monday. Go get my baby. My god, it's a dream. Please let it be a dream. I killed somebody's baby. I killed somebody's baby. No. And it's not going to be all right without me. I killed somebody's baby. I killed somebody's baby. Do you understand? I know. I killed somebody's baby. What you're going through, but I killed somebody's baby. You said the walkway was right there and I wasn't supposed to be driving there on the bridge and it was a baby and I killed somebody. Shaver was charged with three counts of aggravated DUI, three counts of leaving the scene of an injury crash, three counts of aggravated reckless driving, two counts of reckless homicide after a second victim later died. She eventually accepted a plea deal, 20 years in prison, and 2 years of supervised release. We're all talking. Okay. Okay. This case isn't just about what happened, but how it happened. It's about a moment of impaired judgment, a poorly lit bridge, a mental health spiral, and the ripple effects that followed. Two lives were lost, one life was shattered. Families on all sides were left grieving. The lesson here is not only about the dangers of drinking and driving, but about how easily one misstep, fueled by stress, fatigue, or poor decision-making can devastate lives. Could better infrastructure, clearer signage, or earlier intervention have made a difference? And how do we hold people accountable while still recognizing the human underneath the mistake? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. If you're here for content that explores why things happen, not just what happened, subscribe for more grounded, realworld breakdowns. If you'd like, I can also help you create a thumbnail text, YouTube description, or a short caption that reflects this thoughtful tone. Would you like that?