The Crime

There are many statistics about the injuries and deaths caused by drinking and driving.  MADD has many of them. One in three of us will be in an alcohol related crash in our lifetime is one that resonates with me.  However, until you have suffered a loss like this, you have no idea what the road ahead holds.  James J. Ryan suffered a traumatic brain injury when he killed Matt.  He was hospitalized from July 20th until sometime in December, when he was transferred to a nursing/rehab center.  He is still there.  To the best of our knowledge, Mr. Ryan had no insurance at the time of the crash, appears to have no assets and is basically without resources - financial or moral.  That is the harsh truth.  We do not believe that this was his first DUI, however, perhaps the crash that killed Matt will take this person out of circulation for a while.  The current law will give him a chance to do this again.  We as a society need to get more firm with this crime.

Matt was fixing his tire on a very well traveled New York State bike path.  This bike path had no barriers to traffic going by.  Many people traveling north on the Wantagh State Parkway would be coming from Jones Beach, a natural treasure.  A cyclist had stopped to ask Matt if he needed help.  Matt told him that he was fine and the other cyclist continued on.  If he had stayed, there might have been two fatalities that day.