The Woman Who Was Burned Alive By A Drunk Driver | The Oprah Winfrey Show | Oprah Winfrey Network

take a look at this picture this is Jackie tsavorite Oh a beautiful 20 year old who had everything to look forward to everything look at this as an only child growing up in Caracas Venezuela Jackie lived the good life beautiful and smart she loved to sing and dance to flamingo I love hanging out with friends and you know to go parties to enjoy life in college she studied engineering with hopes of one day taking over her father's manufacturing business she had dreams of getting married a lot of children two or three four children in August of 1999 Jackie said goodbye to her parents in Venezuela to set off on a new adventure she moved to Texas to study English this is Jackie today Jackie was literally burned alive during a horrific accident the young man responsible for doing this to her is now in prison and he agreed to talk to us about the fateful night that altered so many lives I was a senior in high school starter on a football team made good grades I was known as a good kid in the community but one split-second decision would change Reggie steffie's life forever I had gone out to a friend's house after work it got late and so I decided to go on to another party I wasn't paying attention to how much I was drinking I was just out having a good time the same night Jackie soo burrito was excited about going to a birthday party I was thinking oh my goodness when I money were after the party she accepted a ride home from a young woman who lived near her dormitory we left the party we were 5 people in the car four girls and one boy at about 4 o'clock in the morning I got in my SUV and I headed home on a four lane road just outside of Austin Reggie's SUV crossed the center line and hit the car Jackie was riding in hedaan last thing I remember was headlights and impact two girls in Jackie's car were killed instantly Jackie was trapped her legs were pinned under the dashboard she was helpless as flames engulfed her face and body I approached the other vehicle and couldn't get any response from anybody I went back to my car and called nain car emetic Brian Fitzpatrick and his partner were first on the scene when Jackie was engulfed by the flames she was screaming and moaning and wailing and almost inhuman sound I've never heard another person make she continued to scream as the flames kept growing I remember thinking at one point as well God just please take her and let her stop suffering I told help help help in English she was on fire for close to a minute before they could free her from the car her skin her hair her face melted away I was surprised to find when I walked up to the passenger side that she was moving and still moaning I thought they were they I remembered the some of the helicopter the helicopter took her to a hospital with third-degree burns covering 60% of her body a test showed Reggie's blood-alcohol was over the legal limit they handcuffed me and said you are under arrest for intoxication manslaughter I went from a football field on Friday to a prison cell on Sunday through the choices I made on one one Saturday four days later he was released on bail the first time I was made aware of the severity of Jacqueline's burns I didn't need I didn't sleep at Ostend turn on his 20th birthday Reggie Steffi was fine $20,000 and sentenced to seven years in prison for two counts of intoxication manslaughter he's serving time at the Luther unit of the Texas Department of Corrections meanwhile Jackie woke up in a hospital blind and hallucinating hanging between life and death doctors worked around the clock to say Jackie's life jackie was unconscious for 10 months once fiercely independent her life now revolves around hospitals doctors and an endless search to rebuild her badly burned face and body she has endured 50 surgeries and there are many more to come last February a corneal transplant enabled her to see her face for the first time when I really said the first time I felt like a monster like a alien she depends on her father who has devoted his life now to her care my father is the most important person in my life if you won't be here with me I won't be here either he is a person that every day 24 hours a day give me courage give me energy helps me to continue to deliver he's a wonderful human a few friends have drifted away I had that a good friend from Venezuela then he couldn't handle it when I needed him he wasn't over there she is hurt by the stares that she sometimes receives when she goes out in public you know pretty looking looking looking looking at some people scare some people you know admire me Jacky is getting stronger but faces years of treatment and uncertainty all because of one drunk driver I miss my body I miss my independence I miss my opportunities my future because it won't be the same sometimes my solid wants to get out I want to be in another body you know that I can do whatever I want to do but I don't know how please welcome a woman who defines survival please welcome Jackie Sarita [Music] Jackie says in her dreams that you are whole and beautiful Wow yes when we had some dreams I remember that I had some an accident no but I still beautiful like before mm-hmm so it's something is strange something that happened to me but I still did the same person physically mm-hmm outside mm-hmm and you say that it feels like your soul is trapped inside this burned scarred body yeah I feel like when you do you are like I inside a car and you want to get out and you cannot because you know if you do go out you will be free mm-hmm and I feel like that I feel like I am inside of this body but I'm I'm the same person that we support so we were looking at your photograph here on the screen and do you feel like you're still that person on the screen yes yes I feel of course not physically but inside I'll feel the same person that have bad moments and good moments but good behavior but behavior you know like a normal person mm-hmm now when you walk down the street I'm sure that you get a lot of stares because when people see you it's it's rare that anybody's seen anybody this scarred this burned who actually survived and how do you handle that how does that make you feel if will read their kids or something like that I understand them because they are kids you know they are innocent and they they don't know but it will be adults and they want to look at me a look a look a look you know I think inside my mind I said come on I don't have do anything you know but I I on the other hand I think that sometimes people don't understand yeah how do you feel about now we just watched the tape of the man who is now in jail he'll be in jail for six seven years and he will be out and he will go on with his life while you are you have already had 50 surgeries and will have countless more surgeries how do you feel about him do you Harbor anger towards him do you Harbor anger toward the fact that you know he made a stupid mistake driving intoxicated I feel I can say like a three or four times a dr when i'm very very depressed that I say how come on why he did this but really really not and I think he he's not criminal he's a responsible person that took a bad decision in a bad time you know it's something that he didn't want to do it because if he will say yeah I want to go out on kill people I will say go to jail and you know everything but in my opinion he's not a criminal but he should do something because he needs to understand what happened or what he did because it's not my life it's not my father's my father my mother my family no is everybody around me my friends you know because you lost your friends at night yeah did you ever think cuz none of us who have experienced this guy who can't even pretend to imagine what that pain and horror were you conscious the whole time you were burning do you remember feeling pain about pain really really no I don't remember I remember that I was like a trap in the car and I really been there when I say like a help help and in my mind I remember a couple of times that I have like a couple general small accidents in my country and I say oh my goodness this I won't make it I won't make it I will make it I know that you say every day of your life is a fight you know all of us wake up we complain about everything going on in our life but for you every day just to get up and get dressed is a fight yeah it is a fight because this is so difficult sometimes you know understand why this happened to me why happened to any you know and are you are you glad that you lived yes I'm glad you're glad that you live there I'm glad because I want to live a lot of things that I didn't I haven't enough time to do it you know so I want to leave it I want don't I don't want to lose it yeah well Jackie says she allows herself to cry for only about five minutes a day right you let yourself feel sorry for yourself five minutes a day and really do I sound like my cousin a idea to say you only will have five minutes a day to crack and they aren't ever you know because you know okay that's it five minutes finish hi youtubers I'm excited to give you an update about our own YouTube channel now you can find new videos every day they're the kind of videos it'll make you look at life differently they may even make you laugh a little bit subscribe to the own channel today and we'll see you on YouTube

Channel: OWN

Views: 3,206,537

Keywords: Oprah, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Winfrey Network YouTube, Oprah Where Are They Now, Where Are They Now Oprah, Iyanla Fix My Life, full episodes, Super Soul Sunday, Oprah Winfrey Show, The Haves and The Have Nots, Have and Have Nots, If Loving You Is Wrong, Iyanla Vanzant, Livin Lozada, Oprah Life Class, how-to, season, episode, #oprahwinfreyshow, The Oprah Winfrey Show, oprah show, oprah interview, maya angelou, Burned, Drunk Driver, Jacqui Saburido, 20-year-old, Venezuela

Id: qNdG6s4lZdc

Length: 12min 25sec (745 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 24 2019