The film contains frank descriptions of a fatal crash. Watch with care.
Brighton · Special education teacher at BOCES for 25+ years · Watercolor artist · Habitat for Humanity volunteer · Grandmother
Perinton · Geri’s companion
On the night of Wednesday, July 31, 2002, Geri Navratil and her companion Jim Finegan were driving home from an evening at Oak Hill Country Club. At about 11:04 pm they were stopped at a red light on East Avenue when a car traveling more than 70 miles an hour struck them from behind. Both were killed. The driver’s blood alcohol content was .21, and he had been arrested for felony DWI three days earlier. He pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and DWI and was sentenced to 7½ to 15 years.
Geri lived on Village Lane in Brighton, in a small house she loved. She taught special education at BOCES for more than 25 years, painted watercolors, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and the Susan B. Anthony House, and marched for the Equal Rights Amendment. Two weeks before she died she learned that her painting Antique Bottle had been chosen for the cover of a regional calendar. She never saw it printed.
Her son Peter learned of the crash the next afternoon, from a call from the coroner’s office asking for dental records. In the film he talks about that call, about what trauma does over decades, and about why the people who live through this have to hold each other up.
The impact of what happened that night, in a matter of a split second, has had such a long-standing impact that it's a trauma that continues on. There's no way to make that right.
It's our collective work to recognize and to support each other when we go through these traumatic things. I'm not the only one that's lost a loved one.
She loved to stand up for people.
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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