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Shown here with a look of introspect, Bill Redinger shared the painful story of the death of their 19 year-old daughter from a high-speed accident that included drinking and drinking and texting while driving. (Johnson Publications photo)

Father shares story of losing daughter to drinking and driving

    As a Nebraska state trooper for 26 years, including 18 as an undercover drug officer, Ogallala’s Bill Redinger has pretty much seen it all.
    He spoke to Chase County junior and senior high students about the evils of drugs during last week’s mock disaster assembly.
    But the most powerful impact of his message came from his real-life experience as a father losing his 19-year-old daughter in a drinking-and-driving accident nearly five years ago.
    Redinger said a day doesn’t go by but what he doesn’t think of and miss his daughter, Emma.
    Now retired from the state patrol Redinger has seen first hand the damage done by both drugs and alcohol.
    Usually, it was Trooper Redinger who was delivering bad news to a family—but this time, he was on the other end.
    In the early morning of March 16, 2013, a trooper he had worked with called to tell him he needed to talk to him immediately on Redinger’s back deck.
    There, he learned his daughter had been badly injured in a  high-speed accident on I-80 near Hershey and alcohol was involved. The passenger in Emma’s car, her best friend, was dead at the scene.
     Redinger said he was puzzled his daughter would be drinking and driving. He had drilled into her never to drive after drinking, even though she was still underage to be drinking.
    The trooper took Redinger, his wife and son to the hospital in North Platte.
    He saw his daughter in the emergency room—she was badly injured and would need immediate surgery. Doctors there said they could do everything in North Platte versus flighting her to Lincoln.
    While they were waiting, a horrific twist of fate occurred.
    The parents who came to identify their dead daughter swore it wasn’t their daughter.
    Could it be?
    Redinger said he’d already seen his daughter in the ER.
    His daughter and her friend looked a lot alike. They even shared the same tatoo on the back of their necks.
    What they didn’t share was a “Family” and cross tattoo under Emma’s arm.

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