Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Source: ProJo.com
Friday, May 14, 2010
Source: WPRI.com
By Darren Soens & Danielle North
CRANSTON, R.I. (WPRI) – The mother of a local drunk driving victim uses her own tragic experience to teach teens about the dangers of driving drunk.
On Friday, Cathy Andreozzi joined police and firefighters for a mock drunk driving crash outside Cranston High School West.
Andreozzi's daughter, Tori, was seriously injured in a hit and run crash caused by a drunk driver.
“I labored over the idea, 'Would people be uncomfortable knowing that I was a real victim mom?' But that's the point,” said Andreozzi. “People should be uncomfortable because that discomfort they may have felt today is nothing compared to the real pain and hurt and loss that ensues when there's an alcohol-related tragedy.”
Here is the scenario: It is a bloody scene outside the school. In the mangled wreckage of one car, a mock victim is dead on the scene.
In the other vehicle, two injured victims, one played by Eyewitness News reporter Danielle North, and the other by a high school freshman, wait for help.
“We wanted them to see it as it really happened,” says Cranston Police Chief Marco Palumbo. “The accident, how long it took for emergency personnel to arrive at the scene, the pain that the occupants suffered during that time as the fire personnel cut the roof off the car to get them out.”
And as crews worked to rescue the injured, the mock victims were covered with blankets to protect them from shattered glass.
The “victims” were then put onto stretchers, as a woman screamed in the background.
That woman was Cathy Andreozzi, who hopes her presence would help drive home the message that drunk driving is no laughing matter.
“The choices that they make dictate the moments in their life. And there are no do-overs. No do-overs.”
Cranston police are hoping the students who witnessed the reenactment will remember the chilling scene, before they head out for prom night this weekend.
Extra patrols will be on the streets, to try to ensure that this prom night is a safe one.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Source: State.RI.US
In light of this week’s tragedy in Warwick where 42-year-old Steven Barlow was not wearing a seat belt was thrown from his vehicle and killed, Rep. Douglas W. Gablinske (D-Dist. 68, Bristol, Warren) today held a news conference to discuss his legislation to require all drivers in the state to wear seat belts.
Joining Representative Gablinske were Captain Darren Delaney from the Rhode Island State Police; Michael Lewis, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation; Colonel Joseph P. Moran III, President of the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association; Beatrice Perez, Program Manager of the Injury Control Program for the Department of Health and Joee Lindbeck from Attorney General Patrick Lynch’s office.
The legislation (2010-H7085) would make the failure to wear a seat belt while operating a motor vehicle a primary offense, rather than a secondary offense. Currently, drivers in Rhode Island can only be cited for failure to wear a seat belt if they are pulled over for another offense.
“This is one of the greatest public safety issues facing our state. It seems like every week we hear a different story about someone who has been killed in a car accident because he or she wasn’t wearing a seat belt,” said Representative Gablinske. “I cannot imagine the pain and frustration that family members of the accident victims must face knowing that maybe, just maybe, if their loved one had worn a seat belt, he or she would be alive today.”
Representative Gablinske said he is aware that the minority community is concerned that his legislation will increase racial profiling by police officers, but he feels that one issue does not directly relate to the other.
“It is important to note that the prevention of racial profiling is parallel in importance to the need to adopt a primary seat belt law. I firmly believe the issues are comparable and compatible, but not linked. Neither one overshadows or overpowers the other,” he said.
Gablinske said his legislation stands to help the minority community. Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for African Americans from birth through 14 years of age and the second leading cause of death between the ages of 15 and 24. Car crashes are also the leading cause of death for Hispanics from birth to 34 years of age. Many of these deaths occurred because the driver or passenger was not wearing a seat belt.
“With these staggering statistics, it is safe to say that the minority community desperately needs the primary seat belt law,” he continued.
The bill has the full support of the National Urban League, the ASPIRA Latino Youth Organization, the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, the National Conference of Black Mayors, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and Meharry Medical College.
Moreover, Rhode Island stands to receive approximately $4 million in federal funding for infrastructure and education/outreach programs to help implement the legislation, if it passes. This federal funding would be put, in part, toward ensuring that racial profiling does not occur during traffic stops within Rhode Island.
Representative Gablinske’s bill was introduced on January 12 and has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration. Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr. (D-Dist. 22, Smithfield, North Smithfield) has sponsored identical legislation in the Senate, which has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Source: State.RI.US
Rep. Douglas W. Gablinske, sponsor of a stiff new drunken driving law that was used for the first time this weekend in a crash that killed one Brown University student and injured another, said he is “saddened that the law had to be used at all, but pleased that the families of the victims will at least be assured some justice in the wake of this terrible tragedy.”
The new law, sponsored and championed by Representative Gablinske, now allows a police officer to request a search warrant to take a blood sample if probable cause exists to believe that an individual has been driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, after that individual has refused a to take a breathalyzer test. The law only applies to situations where drunken drivers refuse a breathalyzer test in accidents where death or serious bodily injury results.
On early Friday morning, a 23-year-old man ran over two Brown University students walking near campus, killing one and severely injuring another. The driver was suspected to be under the influence of alcohol, and Providence police used Representative Gablinske’s new law to obtain a warrant to have the suspect’s blood drawn.
“It truly breaks my heart each time I hear about another drunken driver killing or injuring an innocent person,” said Representative Gablinske (D-Dist. 68, Bristol, Warren), whose father was killed by a drugged driver 38 years ago. “This weekend’s tragedy is yet another example of why our state has desperately needed this new law. At the very least, the victims’ families in this case will have some solace in the fact that the man who committed this unthinkable crime will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law- because we’ve now given law enforcement the tools to ensure that this happens.”
For years, law enforcement officials were able to request a search warrant based on probable cause from a judge to seek the blood of a person who refused a chemical test after causing an accident that resulted in death or serious bodily injury due to alleged drunken driving. In 2000, the Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled this practice unconstitutional.
However, the United States Supreme Court has upheld the legality of this type of search for 23 years and in recent years, upheld police action to forcibly withdraw blood from a drunken driver without a warrant.
Before Representative Gablinske’s new law, Rhode Island was one of the only states in the nation in which law enforcement is denied access to the best evidence of a driver’s intoxication after they have killed or maimed someone. For 5 consecutive years, Rhode Island has led the nation with the highest percentage of alcohol related traffic deaths.
Currently, 44 states allow law enforcement officers to obtain blood results in cases where a person is killed or seriously injured.
Twenty-eight of these states allow the police to forcibly have blood drawn from suspected drunken divers involved in collisions which resulted in death or serious injury. Sixteen other states allow police to obtain a search warrant or court order to obtain blood from a drunken driver where death or serious injury resulted.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Source: rilin.state.ri.us
In light of a recent tragedy in Scituate where an alleged drunk driver who had nine previous arrests- including one for breathalyzer refusal- killed a mother of six, Rep. Douglas W. Gablinske (D-Dist. 68, Bristol, Warren) will hold a news conference to discuss his legislation to crack down on drunk drivers.
The news conference will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, April 15 at 2:30 p.m. in the House Lounge of the State House.
Representative Gablinske’s legislation (2009-H5039) would allow a police officer to request a search warrant to take a blood, breath or urine sample if probable cause exists to believe that an individual has been driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, after that individual has refused a to take a breathalyzer test.
Joining Representative Gablinske at the news conference will be Rep. Jon D. Brien (D-Dist. 50, Woonsocket), co-sponsor of the legislation; Colonel David Randall, Chief of Police for the Scituate Police Department; representatives from the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association, the Rhode Island State Police and the Attorney General’s office; representatives from the Department of Transportation’s Office of Highway Safety, the Rhode Island Traffic Safety Coalition and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD); and Cathy Andreozzi, the mother of a victim of a hit-and-run drunk driving accident and founder of the Tori Lynn Andreozzi Foundation.
“The issue of drunk driving is very personal to me and I won’t give up until our state does more to prevent tragedies like this from occurring over and over again,” said Representative Gablinske, whose father was killed by a drugged driver 38 years ago. “Rhode Island needs to come down on the side of the victims and their families, not the side of a defendant, who killed a mother and left her children motherless. We have ignored this growing issue for far too long, causing more innocent people to fall victim to negligent and thoughtless individuals who drink and get behind the wheel of a car in an impaired state. The time is now for our state to enact policies that will serve as deterrents to drunk drivers.”
For more information, contact:
Shana Mancinho, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-2457
Friday, April 03, 2009
Source: RIcentral.com
For almost a decade, the R.I. House Judiciary Committee has tabled bill H-5039 for further study.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Source: Doc.RI.gov
The annual departmental awards ceremony was held on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 9 a.m. in the George C. Arnold Conference Center. This special edition of the RIDOC Review recognizes this year’s honorees.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Source: RI.gov
EVENT: Rhode Island Department of Corrections Annual Employee Awards Ceremony
DATE: Thursday, February 19, 2009 TIME: 9:00 a.m.
LOCATION: R.I. Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals Eleanor Slater Hospital George C. Arnold Conference Center in the Regan Building 111 Howard Avenue Cranston, RI 02920
Monday, July 07, 2008
Source: Corrections.com
The 50 or so fidgety, flip-flop-wearing, high school students sitting in the prison visiting room were asked to be honest if they could. The question: how many of you have ever driven a car after consuming alcohol, or gotten in a car with someone who has been drinking, or know a friend or classmate who has done either? All the kids respond by raising their hands.
This is the Zero Fatalities Project, a Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RIDOC) initiative to prevent drinking and driving among the state’s youth. From April to June, RIDOC invited 1,700 high school students, parents, and community members to small, inmate-panel presentations. The inmates are all serving long sentences for DUI and reckless driving offenses. Sometimes speaking to groups of 200, the panelists talk about their crimes and the effects their poor choices have had on their lives and those of their victims’ families.
Several agencies are backing the project, including the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association, Rhode Island State Police, the state’s Family Court, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and the state’s Attorney General’s Office. Assistant Attorney General Jay Sullivan, who prosecutes DUI crimes for the state, begins each presentation with a sobering wake-up call for the audience.
“Teens kill teens and teens kill innocent victims,” Sullivan says one Wednesday morning to a group of juniors and seniors from Coventry High School. In the last two years, 25 teens were killed on the roads in the state because of speed or alcohol. That translates to one teen a month. Sullivan has witnessed the destructive toll these cases take on so many lives.
“All of these guys [sitting on the inmate panel] have fond memories of high school,” Sullivan says. “But I am unfortunately a part of their young lives now. Don’t make me part of your high school memories.”
In Rhode Island, if someone under the influence of alcohol kills a person, the maximum sentence for the driver is 15 years. The shortest sentence on this morning’s panel of five inmates is seven to nine years; the longest is 15. The average sentence of the group is nine years.
“Sitting where you are today, you have all the power in the world right now,” a young inmate tells the group. “It might not feel like it, but you do, and you should realize that and not make the decisions I did.”
As the inmates, two women and three men, take turns telling their stories, it becomes clear that at one time they had a lot in common with the young individuals sitting just a few feet away. Two of the panelists even went to Coventry High School. One was a student when her accident happened.
“Listen to your parents,” she says. “They love you and care about you and are trying to protect you. They have your best interests at heart.”
Most of the panel are in their early twenties, chosen for their age so they might make a connection with their mostly high school-age audiences.
“You have the opportunity to learn from other people’s bad choices,” one panelist says.
“Decide before you leave your house how you are going to get home,” another advises. “Plan out how you’re going to get home, don’t get complacent. This will absolutely happen to you. Don’t get in a car and drive, don’t get in a car and be a passenger. My best friend died during a crash while he was driving under the influence.”
“I saw friends die in drunk-driving accidents in high school, and that didn’t stop me,” another panelist adds.
Zero Fatalities also offers a view from the other side of these terrible tragedies. After the inmates speak, Cathy Andreozzi, the mother of a victim of a drunk-driving accident, slowly takes to the podium to tell her story.
“You’ve heard a lot of pain and regret today,” she says. “They wish they could take it all back. I have a lot of pain and regret too. My daughter, Tori, is still alive, but it’s not nearly the life she’s supposed to live.”
Andreozzi’s 12-year-old daughter was walking down the side of the road in the middle of the day when she was struck by a drunk driver, leaving her with devastating physical injuries and a traumatic brain injury. She can no longer speak, eat, or care for herself.
“Life as you know it can change in a moment and there is no warning,” Andreozzi says. “When you think about your lives so far, you’ve had all your choices made for you. As you get older, you start to make choices for yourself. But these young people in jail have reverted to having their choices made for them. This is not the way it’s supposed to be, but it’s because of one bad choice. I will never give up hope that the future doesn’t have to be the same for other people.”
The Zero Fatalities sponsors share that hope.
“I’m not here to scare you, I’m here to tell you the truth,” Sullivan says to his young audience.
An important part of that truth is that young people are empowered to make the right decisions to save their and others’ lives. As the high school students file out at the end of the program, the panel, sponsors and victims hope they’ve relayed that well enough so these kids won’t have to return to tell their own tragic story.
(Original article on Corrections.com: http://www.corrections.com/articles/18952)
