AITAH for refusing to bail my dad out from his 4th DUI in 3 years?

A Redditor recounts their decision to refuse bailing their father out of jail after his fourth DUI in three years. Despite facing pressure, they chose to draw a line, unable to continue enabling his dangerous behavior. Now, they wonder: Did they make the right call or were they too harsh?

‘ AITAH for refusing to bail my dad out from his 4th DUI in 3 years?’

My dad regularly drinks to the point that he will show up at the house at 3pm after “leaving for work” at 11am, he is self-employed so he doesn’t have set working hours. But he has gotten to the point that any minor inconvenience will set his anger to 100 so he goes straight for the nearest liquor store and buys a bottle of whiskey and starts chugging.

I got a call from what said (City county) Jail, i answered it, and he is barely speaking coherrent english “I’m…burp im in trouuuubbllllleeeee” “what did you do now?”. “I had a few drinks and this a**hole donut cop arrested me because…because I wouldn’t get out of the truck” I hung up on him, I called the jail and they said it’s $300 to bail him out….I refused.

Turns out, he was doing 20mph over the speed limit, hopped a median and flew straight into a light pole on the opposite side of the road. the truck is totalled. Am i the a**hole for refusing to enable his drunk ass anymore?

Edit: he’s in his early 70s and lives primarily on the $2,200 he gets from social security, he always bitches about not having money despite almost 1.1 million in an IRA just……..rotting away, he constantly b*tches about how the IRS is “a**hole jews” for wanting to charge an estate tax on it.

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

Nefariousness-Flashy −  NTA. Maybe waking up hungover in jail will be the wake-up call he needs. Or, to quote someone wise I once knew: “Some kids only learn not to play with fire by getting burned.”

tillwehavefaces −  Fourth DUI in 3 years? He’s going to kill someone driving drunk. Bailing him out would just enable him further. He has a problem and need professional help.

adjudicateu −  You will be the a**hole if you bail him out and he kills someone.

Superb_Duck3353 −  Being Jewish, for that antisemitic ignorance alone, I wouldn’t answer his call and tell anyone who bails him out they’re on your s**t list. Come on, you’re doing the job the courts won’t do.

Secret_Sister_Sarah −  NTA – Why haven’t the donut cops taken away his license yet?

MRSAMinor −  Why do you even speak to this l**er? NTA. Let this anti-semitic a**hole rot in jail before he kills someone. If it’s his fourth DUI, why is he not in prison?

Much-Respond9614 −  Your dad is clearly a broken, selfish, r**ist a**hole… Never mind not bailing him out, you should completely cut him out of your life. You will be better off…

EMDWatson −  He needs a medical detox and rehab. Sucks. He has a long road.

lapsteelguitar −  1) Not bailing your dad out is the right thing to do.
2) If your dad does not start withdrawing money from his IRA, he will have to pay penalties.

Neonpinx −  A friend of mine died at the beginning of the year because of a drunk driver. Let your selfish a**oholic father rot in jail. At least he can’t drunk drive and can’t m**der or disable people from jail. N.