The film contains frank descriptions of a fatal crash. Watch with care.
Hilton · September 9, 1983 – April 20, 2001 · Hilton High School senior · Big brother to Lindsay
Lindsay was 13 when her brother died. She spoke at his funeral, and today she coordinates Monroe County’s STOP-DWI program.
Sue’s film is different from the others, and she says so in the first sentence. On April 20, 2001, during spring break, her 17-year-old son Ryan drank with friends at Parma Town Park. A designated driver got him home. Then, trying to reach a girl he had been messaging, he grabbed his mother’s keys and left without his shoes. He crashed near Huffer Road in Parma and died at the scene. His blood alcohol content was .23.
Ryan was the oldest cousin, the fun one, the kid with the contagious smile leaning against the lockers. His friends filled the family room with photographs to build boards for his funeral. His sister Lindsay, 13, stood at the podium and spoke about her brother.
Sue began sharing Ryan’s story in 2006, when she connected with Monroe County STOP-DWI and became a victim impact panel speaker. She tells it from the side most families never hear from: the mother of the driver. Her point is not blame. It is that teenagers who feel invincible need to hear exactly how it goes wrong, from someone who has lived it.
My purpose and my reason to share my story is that I just don't want to see some other family go through what our family has gone through.
They had a plan that was going to be foolproof, and it certainly was not.
They all felt they were invincible and that nothing could go wrong.
Told by Peter Navratil. A son remembers his mother, Geri Navratil, and her companion Jim Finegan, killed at a red light on East Avenue in 2002.
Told by Sue Merritt. A mother tells the story of her son Ryan, who drove drunk on a spring-break night in 2001 and never came home.
Told by Henry Sr. & Migdalia Rivera. Parents remember their son Henry Alexander Rivera and his friend Pedro Hernandez, killed by a wrong-way driver on 590 in 2007.
Invite a RAID speaker to your school or workplace, volunteer with us, or share this film with a driver you love.
Rochester-area families who lost someone to impaired driving, working so no other family has to.
In honor of all those we have lost to impaired driving, and the families who carry them forward.
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