DWI Victims' Families To Now Address Drunk Drivers In New Program
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The Staten Island district attorney's office has launched a program that forces drunk driving offenders to hear from victims' families, to learn sober lessons. Borough reporter Amanda Farinacci filed the following report. Twenty-one-year-old John Sambuco was drunk and high and was driving his SUV on the wrong side of the road with the headlights off when he slammed into a car carrying 18-year-old Marianna Edkins. That was back in the early morning hours of January 10, 2006.
Edkins was killed and Sambuco arrested and sent to prison.
Marianna's mother, Maryanne Edkins, said she relived the tragedy after she heard of an accident last summer that claimed the lives of two teens and seriously injured four others.
"There was that big accident on Arthur Kill Road with the six kids, and I said, 'You know, they're right by the South Shore, where Marianna grew up,' and I said, 'How could they still be drinking and driving?' I said, 'I have to do something about this.'
So Edkins decided to volunteer for a Mothers Against Drunk Driving Victim Impact Panel (VIP).
Under the program, Maryanne Edkins and her husband, Charlie, tell first-time DWI offenders how their lives have changed since their daughter was killed.
It is a program in place in Brooklyn and Queens, and one that Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan now requires DWI and DUI offenders to complete as part of their sentencing.
"They are people who are going to be very fortunate that they didn't harm anyone else through their offense, and we're hoping by hearing Maryanne and Charlie's story and others, that they'll realize they were just very fortunate, and that may be enough for many of them," said Donovan.
The program began back in August and since then, 34 people are already required to attend the first Victim Impact Panel as part of their sentencing for a DWI conviction. That panel will meet on October 19.
Last year, about 425 people were arrested for drunken driving in the borough. And while he cannot say why, Donovan said there have been more than that already this year.
Donovan said the island is on pace to have 600 drunk driving arrests before the year is out, and he is hoping this new program will lower that number.