HT News

April 27, 2009

Billboards honor DUI victim

Family of Joseph Gigliotti is using anniversary of his death to help others.

By Edward Lewis elewis@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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A year ago Friday, Joseph Gigliotti was killed by a drunken driver on East Butler Drive in Butler Township.

His untimely death happened on his wife’s birthday.

Instead of reliving the tragedy that took the life of a husband, father and grandfather, Gigliotti’s family is using their pain to do something positive.

Two billboards with Gigliotti’s picture and messages about the dangers of drunken driving were unveiled in the Hazleton area on Wednesday, and the car Gigliotti was driving when he was killed has been donated to Hazleton Area’s chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions, formerly known as students against driving drunk.

“This is how I’m healing; I won’t let the anger take control,” said Gigliotti’s daughter, Carla Kringer. “I really struggled with the pain; I was going through a difficult time, but doing this has been a tremendous help for me personally.”

Kringer and her family have publicly declared war on drunken driving by using their personal tragedy to tell others that people are killed by drunken drivers. Gigliotti’s family is also lobbying state lawmakers to stiffen penalties for those convicted of drunken driving.

Gigliotti, 69, was on his way to his home in McAdoo when his vehicle was struck by a sport utility vehicle driven by Kevin Prussock, 25, at about 1:45 p.m. April 24, 2008. Gigliotti was killed instantly. Prussock suffered minor injuries.

Township police said Prussock had a blood alcohol level of .181 percent at the time of the crash.

Prussock admitted to police, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing, that he had been drinking at a West Hazleton tavern for much of the morning but couldn’t recall how many beers he had consumed.

Prussock pleaded guilty to homicide drunken driving charges and was sentenced in February to three to seven years in state prison. He is an inmate at the State Correctional Facility at Camp Hill.

The billboards were strategically placed to send a message, Kringer said.

The one on state Route 93 near the Valmont Industrial Park, where Prussock worked at a manufacturing company, shows Gigliotti holding his 1-year-old granddaughter with the message: “Because of a drunk driver, I’ll never get to know my Pop Pop.” The billboard also has a picture of Gigliotti’s gravestone.

The other sign is on state Route 309 near Gigliotti’s hometown of McAdoo. It says “A drunk driver killed me on my wife’s birthday.”

Both billboards have the message, “Please don’t drink and drive.”

“We picked messages that are really powerful, that this is reality, people are killed by drunk drivers,” Kringer said.

Kringer said Lamar Advertising donated the space on billboards.

Edward Lewis, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7196.

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