Increasing awareness of drunk driving deaths, urging safe rides home
OCEAN CITY — “Today is a day of remembrance, it’s a day of hope but it’s also a day of extreme sadness for those who have been lost. We’re here to tell you that as a family after 24 years, love can keep your loved ones alive forever, and their memories and their legacies alive forever,” Bill Elliott said. “Designated drivers are the cure to drunk driving, so our focus is getting people to make sure they have a safe ride home.”
The John R. Elliott HERO Campaign held its 13th HERO Walk and 1-Mile Fun Run on Oct. 20 starting at the Ocean City Sports & Civic Center at Sixth Street.
The HERO Campaign was established by the family of U.S. Navy Ensign John Elliott of Egg Harbor Township after he was killed in a collision with a drunken driver near Woodstown in July 2000, two months after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was named the Outstanding HERO of his graduating class.
Hundreds of supporters, along with families who have lost loved ones to drunken driving, participated during an unseasonably beautiful day on the Ocean City boardwalk.
Among those families were Kim Schleyer of Galloway Township and Chris Fortna who led Team Rydog, a tribute to her son Ryan, 9, who was killed by a drunken driver in 2011.
Ryan was killed when a drunken driver rear-ended the vehicle in which he was riding to a baseball game at about noon off Cologne Avenue in Mays Landing. After being struck, the car spun out and was struck by another vehicle, killing Ryan and paralyzing his friend from the waist down. The driver still suffers pain from injuries he suffered.
“I’m here in honor of my son Ryan,” Schleyer said. “I talk about him almost every day and keep his memory alive, and coming out here and making everyone aware that you can still drink, but have a designated driver. Be responsible.”
Schleyer has been attending the event since 2013.
“I think he has done an amazing job, not telling you to never drink again. Have fun but just be responsible,” Schleyer said of Elliott. “I think people can relate to that. I think it’s a good cause.”
The HERO Campaign has partnered with police departments across the country to wrap cruisers in its message: “Be a HERO, be a Designated Driver.”
Elliott said there were 15 to 27 police departments present with wrapped cars and there would be another 10 to 20 more in the coming months.
“That’s one of the things that we think is effective to get the word out, and partnering with police, colleges, schools, NFL teams, to remind them that having a safe ride is the one thing we can do to prevent drunk driving,” Elliott said.
Lt. William Donahue of the New Jersey State Police Mounted Unit led participants down the boardwalk, followed by police cruisers including the OCPD’s newly unveiled HERO Campaign vehicle.
The one-mile fun run began at 10 a.m., followed by a ceremony in which local performer Molly Pugliese sang the national anthem. The Egg Harbor Township High School cheerleading squad also performed.
A memory banner displayed the pictures of numerous victims who have lost their lives to drunken driving tragedies.
“Unfortunately we add pictures every year, and we’d rather not. What we’re doing, we’re doing to prevent others from experiencing what all of us here have experienced — that knock on the door that opens everybody’s worst nightmare,” Elliott said
Featured on the banner were two local victims of drunken driving — Ricci Branca Jr. of Egg Harbor Township and Nikk Marvel of Somers Point.
Ocean City resident Stephen French killed Branca, 17, and injured two of his friends in 2006 along Ocean Drive between Ocean City and Longport. He served nearly 10 years in prison before being released.
Somers Point resident Paula Cicchinelli killed Marvel, 18, in 2004 while he was walking along Route 9 in Linwood and continued to her home about a mile away.
– STORY and PHOTOS by CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
