10 years sober, Iowa man thanks officer who arrested him

The last time Callin Prieskorn saw the Johnston police officer, he was asked to recite the alphabet and couldn’t. He was dead drunk and driving his Nissan down Merle Hay Road when Sgt. Kenny Agan pulled him over at 12:24 a.m. His field sobriety test showed he was nearly three times over the legal limit.

That was 10 years ago. Prieskorn has come a long way and wanted to talk to that officer again. He had a few things to say.

Prieskorn grew up on the south side, a real partier, but not a mean drunk, he said. He was nabbed for drunk driving before but that didn’t stop him, even after his second offense in 1997. That’s what his group of fellas did. They partied.

Ten years later, on that night in Johnston when most of the rest of the group went home, he kept drinking.

Next thing he knew he was in Polk County Jail. He would be there for 5½ months. He lost his job at a car dealer.

“I had a lot of time to think, looking at the brick walls,” he said.

He joined a 12-step program for alcoholics. And when he got out of jail, it was tough, but he said he stuck with it. On that very first anniversary of his arrest, he thought of the officer who stopped him. He almost picked up the telephone to call him, but didn’t.

Prieskorn went to 12-step meetings and got a new job at Homemakers Furniture. He met April working there and they eventually married.

Years passed, and each time he got his “chip” for another year of sobriety from the 12-step program, he thought of calling Sgt. Agan. He didn’t.

He had gone on to be the general manager of Jethro’s BBQ & Jambalaya in West Des Moines. Callin and April had two sons — Helo, 7, and Shawn, 5 — and settled into a comfortable, good life in Waukee.

But the 41-year-old never forgot about that police officer.

With the 10th anniversary of his arrest approaching and what he says is 10 years of sobriety, he nervously dialed the phone. He told Agan he wanted to meet.

Agan, a 18-year veteran, wasn’t so sure. When former offenders call, it’s often not good. But he decided to meet anyway.

“If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know where I’d be,” Prieskorn said.

On Tuesday, Prieskorn walked down the long hallway, his wife and kids at his side. When he saw Agan’s face, he had a flashback to that blurry night.

Then he gave Agan a hug.

“It’s a big day for me,” Prieskorn told him. “I wanted to make it a big day for you. I’m here because of the things you do.”

He thanked Agan for arresting him, for the way it changed his life and led to meeting his wife and to the kids who now stood there smiling, looking at their dad and a police officer embracing.

“I’ve been thinking about you a lot,” Prieskorn said.

Agan said he was doing his job. There were 119 people killed by drunk drivers in Iowa in 2015. But it meant a lot to him.

“It’s impressive to see the changes you’ve made,” Agan told him. “We give people the opportunity to make those changes. You did it.”

It’s been a tough year for law enforcement in the metro, with two gunned down in the line of duty and two killed in a fiery crash, hit by a drunk driver.

“We never get this kind of feedback,” said Dennis McDaniel, the chief of police for Johnston. “It’s a big day for us.”

With that, the ex-offender and officer walked together down the hallway. They promised to stay in touch, and Agan wants to get to Jethro’s for a meal. Prieskorn offered to buy it.

“I want to pay for it,” Agan said. “Then this all comes full circle.”