Nearly a year ago in the Detroit suburbs, there was a horrific accident involving a drunk driver. The driver, Tom Wellinger, slammed into a woman's car, killing her and her two young sons instantly. Wellinger's blood alcohol was 0.43%, five times over the threshold for legal action here in Michigan. He was sentenced Wednesday to 19-30 years in prison, addition to having almost $15K of fines and having his license permanently revoked.
In all of this, the woman's husband has reacted with such grace and compassion. Here are excerpts from his court letters (from the Detroit Free Press):
Gary Weinstein's victim's impact statement took the form of letters written to his late wife, Judy, and sons Alex and Sam. He read them in court Wednesday. Here are excerpts:
Dear Judy,
I don't suspect that any of you knew what hit you last May the third as you were just about to get to the dentist's office, at 3:30, right on time as always. A fellow Farmington Hills resident, Tom Wellinger, driving his new, big Yukon Denali at 70 miles an hour while having a blood alcohol level five times over the legal limit, slammed into the back of your car as you were in the center left turn lane ready to turn into the doctor's office. ...
I can't seem to get the picture of the accident scene out of my head even though I never saw it. By the time I got to the scene, the officer in charge refused me access, so I went home. The house was so quiet. I wanted to yell out "I'm home," but I stopped myself knowing that no one was there. I still do that quite often. ...
It seems as if the whole community is the victim here; this tragedy ripped at the very heart of family life in our community."
Gosh, I miss you. I can hardly stand the thought of moving forward in my life without you, after having planned and dreamed of us together forever and then to have you gone.
Dear Alex and Sam,
The greatest loss of all has got to be the contribution the two of you don't get to make by not being here. ...
Alex, we went ahead with your bar mitzvah celebration in November as planned. It just seemed like the right thing to do.
All your classmates came. We sang songs, had a chocolate fountain with fresh strawberries and party hats all around. You would have loved it. ...
Sammy, as your friends came by the house in the days and weeks after the accident, I was overwhelmed by how many of them knew you as their best friend.
Forever and ever I will love you.
Your loving husband and father.
To the courtroom:
I want everyone to know I don't hate Tom Wellinger. I just hate what he did.
His actions on that day took much more than three lives, more than just my family's heritage and legacy, ... it took the innocence of thousands of young boys and girls throughout our community. His actions created a debt, a big debt that needs to be repaid.
When I see a senior citizen couple, or a young family, I always stop to wonder what if ... what it might have been like to grow old with my wife while watching our boys as they learned the lessons of life.
I will never truly know. That is what I lost -- I lost the rest of my life.
This promotes waves of conflicting emotions... sadness and even anger that such a thing happens, yet awe, hope and inspiration seeing the way the surviving victim handled it...
