Schools

Learning to Avoid the Consequences

New Hyde Park parents and families saw the effects of drunk or otherwise impaired driving.

Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Michael Bushwack, with the assistance of Lieutenant Gustav Kalin of the Records Bureau, presented the Choices and Consequences program at Thursday night. The two dozen people present listened to stories of erratic drivers who forever changed families.

Bushwack told the audience that every 30 minutes in the United States someone dies as a result of an alcohol-related car crash. He added that crashes involving people who were driving while impaired or driving recklessly are the number one cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 24.

"These people are not animals or savages," Bushwack said, "they just make bad decisions."

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Cases were presented not only of drivers who were impaired by alcohol or drugs and drove but also just reckless drivers, like a 17-year-old who July 4th decided to play Russian roulete as two cars were stopped at a stop sign to either side of him and his car didn't make it through as he accelerated to try to squeeze past both cars.

Bushwack then spoke about the case of Katie Flynn and Stanley Rabinowitz who were killed a few years ago by a drunk driver. Bushwack described the actions of Martin Heigden, who had a blood alcohol level of 0.28 and drove more than three miles going the wrong way on the Meadowbrook Parkway, as "completely selfish".

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To get the hands-on experience, a few New Hyde Park High School students performed a skit of a drunk driving crash and with the help of Lieutenant Kalin learned what tests would be performed on the driver afterward.

Kalin encouraged the teens in the audience to stay off their cell phones while driving, to keep the music down and to limit the number of people in their cars because "the more people in the car, the more people you're responsible for."

"It's about really being vigilant each and every day," Kalin said.


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