Relatives of victims of impaired drivers flooded the state capitol Tuesday to demand Albany close a legal loophole they say allows drugged-up killers off the hook.
Henry Rivera, joined by his wife Migdalia, wept as he told the story of their 18-year-old son Alex, who was killed by a coked-up doctor driving on the wrong side of an upstate highway. The teen’s 20-year-old friend was also killed in the 2007 horror.
In the Riveras’ case, some justice was served — but only because cocaine is on the state’s specific list of controlled substances, say proponents of a bill to change that rule.
The proposed legislation supported by the Riveras and other kin of victims would expand the definition of a drug to include any substance or combination of substances that impairs someone’s physical or mental abilities.
“Just watching the lifeless body of your beloved child, it’s so unnatural,” the dad said through tears on the steps in the Capitol rotunda, surrounded by dozens of other kin of victims, as well as supportive legislators.
“There’s no word in the dictionary that describes the loss of a child, none at all.
“We have the right to make a good choice or a bad choice,” Henry said. “You make the wrong choice, you deal with the law. This law needs to be passed immediately, it’s a righteous law.”
Under current state law, authorities need to cite a specific drug from the state’s list of controlled substances in order to charge someone with drugged driving.
Law enforcement says this approach doesn’t keep up with new intoxicants such as xylazine or “tranq,” the so-called “zombie drug” that hasn’t been added to the list yet.
“That’s the dynamic that just belies common sense in reality,” said state Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-LI), a former prosecutor who was at the event.
State Sen. Dean Murray (R-LI), said the current law is akin to limiting whether someone could be charged for drunken driving based on what they’re drinking.
“Imagine you pull somebody over and say, ‘Is that Captain Morgan or Tito’s,’ and that’ll depend on whether you get charged or not. Impaired is impaired. Period,” Murray said.
The proposed change, which was included in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget plan, “makes all the sense in the world,” said state Sen. Jack Martins (R-LI).
“We have an uptick in fatal car accidents and car accidents, and this is the reason why,” Martins said. “The state passed recreational marijuana without having in place a way of being able to hold drivers responsible for driving drugged.”
A portion of the bill also would make smelling like cannabis or burnt cannabis grounds for probable cause, allowing a police officer to conduct a search and perform a drug test.
Civil-liberties groups are pushing back against the proposal, arguing that making the latter change could open up the door for a deluge of unwarranted searches.
Additionally, cannabis industry groups such as the Empire Cannabis Manufacturers Alliance are raising alarms, saying their workers can’t escape the smell, even if they’re sober.
“This proposal essentially amounts to a criminalization of working in the cannabis industry,” Kaelen Castetter, a rep for the group, told The Post.
Negotiations on the state budget are beginning in earnest and will likely carry on over several weeks. The spending plan is also an avenue for policy items, such as the drugged driving bill, which Hochul has proposed including in the package.