(Pictured above) D.A. Tierney calls for stricter drug and driving laws from Albany (Credit – Matt Meduri)
As Albany’s Executive Budget negotiations drag on, several officials and families find themselves in an eerily similar position year after year.
Indeed, District Attorney Ray Tierney (R), officials from varying levels of government, and, most importantly, the families and friends of those who have been killed at the hands of impaired drivers, make their case yet again to the State Legislature to include road safety and criminal justice provisions into this year’s budget.
“On average, in Suffolk County, there’s 150 fatalities a year due to road accidents. A lot of that comes from distracted or drugged driving,” said County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches). “Recent statistics say that a third of the accidents that occur as a result of a drunk or distracted driver.”
“When did the State lose its way?” asked Romaine of the lack of examination of the laws the Legislature passes.
“I can tell you exactly when the State lost its way: 2019,” said Senator Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue), a staunch advocate for these changes and author of Nick’s Law, which would increase penalties for those who knowingly flee hit-and-run accidents. “That’s when we had Bail Reform, Discovery Reform, and all these pieces of legislation rammed into the budget.”
“If 150 people a year died in plane crashes or got shot on the streets in Suffolk County, it would be an outrage,” said Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst).
“If you have a distracted driver who’s speeding and you have a number of charges – say six speeding charges in a year – you can install in the car a device that will prevent that driver from traveling faster than five miles per hour above the limit,” said Tierney. “There are other states that have taken the initiative to make their roads safer. Every year, we [Suffolk] have led the state for the last twenty-three years [in road fatalities].”
Tierney mentioned that the dangers on roadways have prompted County government to add nine more patrol officers to the highway patrol unit, with more likely inbound for the summer months.
“It’s getting old, having to constantly come up here and advocate change when no one is coming,” said Tierney of the annual requests often made to Albany that go seemingly unnoticed. “We have the most registered drivers in the state. We have the most miles of highway; we have the most deaths. That means we have the most to lose and the most gain when we can actually have fundamental change.”
New York is one of four states in which law enforcement personnel must consult a list of known substances when making a roadside impairment stop. If the suspected drug is not on the list, an arrest cannot be made if identification is the only hurdle. That’s why Tierney and several Suffolk families are imploring the State to make these needed changes.
“That is a ridiculous law; that was a law that was enacted back in the time when our drugs only grew out of the ground,” said Tierney. “You have marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. Now, we have designer drugs created in a lab. Every day, a new drug comes out, and law enforcement can’t possibly keep up, right?”
Tierney and company call for a law that would allow for a driver to be charged if the driver is determined to be impaired. He insists he and other advocates are “not trying to increase penalties”, but “just trying to improve” the law, while also treating drunk driving similarly to drugged driving.
“If you drive while impaired by drugs, or if you drive while impaired by alcohol, there should be no difference, and we want our law to reflect that common sense,” said Tierney, dismissing claims of detractors who say that he and his fellow advocates are “trying to criminalize all sorts of activity.” He affirms that despite “obsession” from the cannabis lobby, his and law enforcement’s problems do not lie with marijuana usage and sale themselves.
Tierney also debunked another “myth” of detractors in that prescription drugs will be in the catalog of impairing substances. He says that the law already provides for a driver to be charged if driving while impaired by a prescription drug and that the presence of the drug, legal or not, when determining an impairment case is effectively irrelevant in terms of public safety.
The D.A. railed against New York’s “Bail Reform” laws, which makes driving while drunk a non-bail eligible offense.
“We significantly increased the size of our highway unit. We are going to be increasing it again for the 100 deadliest days of the year,” said SCPD Commissioner Kevin Catalina, who made the promise when taking the oath of office in February. “But they need help. They need the assistance of Albany to change the laws.”
Catalina is also asking for strengthened legislation when charging drivers who are distracted while operating a vehicle.
“The penalties for distracted driving have to be stricter. We can’t have people convicted three or four times in getting a $500 fine. It should be equivalent to driving while impaired,” said Catalina. “You pick up your phone while you’re driving and you hurt somebody, that’s not an accident; you made a choice.”
Officials were joined by victims and families of victims of impaired driving, with survivor Daycnee Vanderveer speaking of her ability to join the fight for stronger laws. In 2022, Vanderveer, a single mother, was changing a flat tire on the side of the southbound lanes of the Sagtikos Parkway, just south of Exit S1E. She was opening the trunk when her vehicle was rear-ended by Kevin Rosasdaqui, 25, of Brooklyn. Her legs were amputated in the crash. Rosasdaqui was about three times above the legal alcohol limit.
“I’m here by the grace of God because there was a cop who was able to save my life, but that can’t be said for a lot of people,” said Vanderveer.
Tim and Andrea Carpenter, of Lake Grove, spoke of their son, Timothy, who at 21 was killed by a known fentanyl addict on Middle Country Road in Centereach just over two years ago. Christopher Guzman, 40, had passed out behind the wheel, hitting another car before the fatal blow with the Carpenters. Timothy died on impact, while his uncle, Stacey, suffers from permanent disabilities from the accident.
“This is a nightmare that we will never wake up from,” said Andrea Carpenter. “While we were mourning our only child and planning his funeral, Christopher Guzman was out on a ridiculously low bail. He was supposed to be in rehab, but he continued using drugs until he finally OD’d for good with nobody there to save him with NARCAN this time.”
Guzman had been stopped prior to the fatal crash and was a known “career” fentanyl addict, in Carpenter’s words.
“I hold his family equally responsible for Timothy’s death because they all knew what he was. They knew he was driving around impaired and that he was a menace,” said Carpenter.
It’s been almost seven years since the horrific drunk driving incident that rattled a Boy Scout Troop and left Andrew McMorris, 12, dead, yet his mother, Alisa, says it still feels like they’re “standing still.”
“These are not accidents; they’re choices. They’re 100% preventable,” said McMorris. “Time moves on and we’re just the headline for a week or so. But for us grievers, time has no real meaning since the heartache remains and our lives attempt to grow around that emptiness.”
McMorris says she promised her son on his deathbed that she would “do everything she could to never let this happen to anyone else.”
“The Drugged Driving Bill is a good, honest change that is needed to save lives. This offers the drivers the best science available with roadside screening, toxicology, trained observations because impaired is impaired,” said McMorris.
Senator Murray (pictured above) saw the onslaught of bad bills stem from mixing legislation in with budgetary matters, with some representatives using the budgets as “cover”, so as to essentially hold the budget and operation of the State government hostage to push through poor legislation.
Murray also mentioned a quote of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Williamsbridge) regarding retail theft, saying that he didn’t believe that “punishment is a deterrent for breaking the law.”
Assemblyman Michael Durso (R-Massapequa Park) (pictured above) says a common theme of this year’s budgeting session: “You made the problems in the budget. Let’s fix them in the budget.”
“There’s no reason not to get these bills done,” said Durso, adding that there has been a recent uptick in tow truck drivers being killed on the sides of the roads due to distracted drivers.
Durso says that he is working on a bill that would revoke one’s driver’s license if they are convicted of a DWI.
“Why is that not a deterrent? I have a motorcycle license; if I get pulled over for driving my motorcycle while impaired, I lose my driver’s license,” said Durso.
As a freshman legislator, Assemblywoman Rebecca Kassay (D-Port Jefferson) (pictured above) says she is reaching out to colleagues across the County to ensure she is fighting for “common sense legislation.”
“This should not be a partisan issue,” said Kassay. “I’m diving right in to understanding how we move these pieces of legislation forward because they should have moved forward already and every day is too long to not have them moving forward.”
