Do drunken strangers deserve rides home?

I consider myself a very nice guy. I’ve helped old ladies cross the street. I’ve tried to get connections to hook friends up with jobs. I’ve even given stranded motorists a little cash without asking for anything in return.

But I try to avoid giving drunken strangers rides home. A couple of weekends ago, I got cornered into it. 

Around 3 AM, I was hanging out at a fine establishment when an inebriated gentleman told me his friends had ditched him and he needed a ride back to his home in Stamford, about 10 minutes away. I happen to live in Stamford, but I felt uncomfortable putting some random dude in my car. He could have a knife, a gun, anything! So I told him I was going in the other direction, and he ignored my sensible suggestion of calling a taxi.

About a half hour later, I took off from the bar solo, having driven myself. I was on the road leading away from the bar when I received a phone call from my friend. We’ll call him “Q.” Here’s how the brief discussion went down…

Q: Are you on the highway yet?

Me: Yeah I am, just got on. (I wasn’t on)

Q: Aw man…there’s a guy here, his name is Steve and he’s a criminal attorney from Stamford. He’s really drunk, and his friends ditched him. Can you give him a ride back?

Now, Q didn’t know I had already ditched the guy, and I was already on the road out! My conscience got the best of me though, and I wound up going back to give Steve a ride. It only took me 30 seconds to turn around, so that was no big deal. He also turned out to be sane, just drunk, and gave me no problems as I dropped him at his place. Still, I never would’ve gone back had I not been asked. The next day, after some mutual acquaintances informed Q about how he put me in harm’s way by asking me to do that, Q called me to make sure my head wasn’t in a freezer somewhere because of him.

So the whole incident proved at least one thing: questionable decision making isn’t limited to the intoxicated. General rule always tells us to take care of the incapacitated, but I’m not so sure I’d do that again.