January 10, 2009
Posted by David Rothenberg on Saturday, January 17, 2009
Last week 60 Minutes opened their program with a home video of an adorable 7-year old girl, Katie Flynn, who was an attendant at a relative’s wedding in Long Island.
We then learned that this was the child dramatically killed while riding in a limousine on a state highway following the family’s celebration. Both Katie and the limo driver, Stanley Rabinowitz, were crushed to death when a 25-year old man, Martin Heidgen driving drunk and going the wrong way caused a head-on collision.
60 Minutes interviews with Katie’s parents and grandparents were heartbreaking. Understandably, their pain was accompanied by anger at the young man responsible for the senseless death.
Enter Kathleen Rice, Nassau County District Attorney…charging Heidgen with homicide and winning the conviction with a 25 to life sentence. The charge was not vehicular manslaughter but homicide.
Her argument – ostensibly – was that driving under the influence was tantamount to intentional murder and she prosecuted vigorously, in court and through the media.
The case tears you apart. I am very angry about drunken driving and the tragedies that result from it. Watching the movies of Katie Flynn is almost unbearable to watch when accompanied with photos of the crash site. Lives were wasted. And each week we read of athletes and actors arrested on DWI charges. Most DWI’s don’t make the press unless there is a tragic accident but a Charles Barkley or Courtney Love DWI arrest is all over the TV.
I could never argue with the parents of Katie who in their grief seek severe punishment for the man responsible for their child’s death. But I have been involved with enough horrendous crimes – knowing perpetrators and victims – to know that strong punishment does not bring closure to the family of the victim. The pain and loss lingers and only revenge has been satisfied.
In time – and perhaps it is too early at this juncture – there are things that a grieving family can do. Not the least of which is being involved in programs that alert people about the dangers of driving while drunk. Also, being part of a support system that brings comfort to other grieving families. The film clips of the limo in which Katie died are far more effective than a politically ambitious DA calling for longer sentences as a cure for a complicated social malady.
We keep seeing prisons and the appearance of toughness presented as a solution to a multitude of social problems…and while it might serve the career of a DA it rarely has anything to do with avoiding future victims. Deterrence would work if people were acting rationally. The retreat into drugs or alcohol has never been a ceasefire in people’s retreat from reality.
There is a long list of projects that could be attempted to lessen the DWI epidemic, not the least being a confrontation with advertising companies that design beer campaigns. Brews such as Coors and Budweiser sell young men the idea that machismo and beer consumption are compatible. They have conducted national campaigns that are insidious. Being a real guy does not mean beer-drinking. College fraternities should be challenged to be part of the solution rather than a continuing contributor with beer busts that have no limits.
The imprisonment of Martin Heidgen will not provide lifelong comfort for the Flynns…nor will his absence from public life deter anyone. It will be forgotten soon by everyone but Katie’s grieving family.
It has given DA Rice a platform for further political ambitions, exploiting the horrendous death of a small child but ultimately being nothing but a loud political roar.
Katie Flynn needs more than political exploitation. People who loved her could be guided to be participants in a more creative response to their unbearable tragedy.
I’m David Rothenberg…out on a limb.
We then learned that this was the child dramatically killed while riding in a limousine on a state highway following the family’s celebration. Both Katie and the limo driver, Stanley Rabinowitz, were crushed to death when a 25-year old man, Martin Heidgen driving drunk and going the wrong way caused a head-on collision.
60 Minutes interviews with Katie’s parents and grandparents were heartbreaking. Understandably, their pain was accompanied by anger at the young man responsible for the senseless death.
Enter Kathleen Rice, Nassau County District Attorney…charging Heidgen with homicide and winning the conviction with a 25 to life sentence. The charge was not vehicular manslaughter but homicide.
Her argument – ostensibly – was that driving under the influence was tantamount to intentional murder and she prosecuted vigorously, in court and through the media.
The case tears you apart. I am very angry about drunken driving and the tragedies that result from it. Watching the movies of Katie Flynn is almost unbearable to watch when accompanied with photos of the crash site. Lives were wasted. And each week we read of athletes and actors arrested on DWI charges. Most DWI’s don’t make the press unless there is a tragic accident but a Charles Barkley or Courtney Love DWI arrest is all over the TV.
I could never argue with the parents of Katie who in their grief seek severe punishment for the man responsible for their child’s death. But I have been involved with enough horrendous crimes – knowing perpetrators and victims – to know that strong punishment does not bring closure to the family of the victim. The pain and loss lingers and only revenge has been satisfied.
In time – and perhaps it is too early at this juncture – there are things that a grieving family can do. Not the least of which is being involved in programs that alert people about the dangers of driving while drunk. Also, being part of a support system that brings comfort to other grieving families. The film clips of the limo in which Katie died are far more effective than a politically ambitious DA calling for longer sentences as a cure for a complicated social malady.
We keep seeing prisons and the appearance of toughness presented as a solution to a multitude of social problems…and while it might serve the career of a DA it rarely has anything to do with avoiding future victims. Deterrence would work if people were acting rationally. The retreat into drugs or alcohol has never been a ceasefire in people’s retreat from reality.
There is a long list of projects that could be attempted to lessen the DWI epidemic, not the least being a confrontation with advertising companies that design beer campaigns. Brews such as Coors and Budweiser sell young men the idea that machismo and beer consumption are compatible. They have conducted national campaigns that are insidious. Being a real guy does not mean beer-drinking. College fraternities should be challenged to be part of the solution rather than a continuing contributor with beer busts that have no limits.
The imprisonment of Martin Heidgen will not provide lifelong comfort for the Flynns…nor will his absence from public life deter anyone. It will be forgotten soon by everyone but Katie’s grieving family.
It has given DA Rice a platform for further political ambitions, exploiting the horrendous death of a small child but ultimately being nothing but a loud political roar.
Katie Flynn needs more than political exploitation. People who loved her could be guided to be participants in a more creative response to their unbearable tragedy.
I’m David Rothenberg…out on a limb.
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