February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Jennifer Flynn’s own words, by contrast, held nothing back in describing a scene of horror and despair so overwhelming that it silenced a room of hard bitten reporters.
This is a story of a little girl’s life ended for the worst of reasons, and no reason at all.
This is a story of shattered dreams for more than one family, not least that of the limousine driver who was also killed.
This is a story that should not be forgotten after the funerals.
New York’s Governor George Pataki recently, and quite rightly, signed a new law that severely increases the potential penalty for drunk drivers who kill.
It is called Vasean’s law after an 11-year-old boy who was struck and killed by a drunk driver in Queens.
Tragically, and though we are now years into various campaigns and education programs aimed at reducing instances of drunk driving, this sort of story is all too familiar to people right across this country, and beyond our shores.
If anything, the situation has worsened with impaired drivers often at the wheel of powerful trucks and SUVs that take away what little chance a victim might have had.
Vasean’s law increased the maximum potential prison sentence in the case of drunk driving death to seven years.
Presumably, the law will now be applied in the case of Katie Flynn. But is it enough?
Seven years was the sum of Katie’s entire life.
It could turn out to be just a fraction of the free life of the man police say swept her short life away.