Friends of dead students seek new law

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Some students at Harrison High School, including Adriana Giuliani, Emily Newton, and Jessica Hoffman, are speaking out in support of a bill currently in the state legislature which would require mandatory breath alcohol ignition interlocks for convicted drunk drivers.

These devices, similar to breathalyzers, can be installed into vehicles' dashboards. A driver must breathe into the device before the vehicle will start, and if the driver's blood alcohol level exceeds the legal limit, the vehicle will not start.

Two of the students' classmates died in accidents involving drunk drivers or suspected drunk drivers. 14-year-old Claire Hockerman and her 5-year-old brother Nathan died in a fiery crash caused by a drunk driver in July 2005. And just this past November, 16-year-old Kate Baker was killed by a suspected drunk driver at the intersection of U-S 52 and Morehouse Road.

"Claire and Nathan and Kate were all great people. It's really hard when you think about it because you always want to think of the happy things but its always marred by an awful act that somebody did that took them away from us forever," said Newton.

Hoffman agreed. "It's not right to have to part so soon with someone so loved."

The girls say they don't want anyone else to go through the loss they've experienced, so they are urging their classmates, teachers, and other community members to call their state representatives and senators in support of the pending bills.

"I feel like through their memory we're able to prevent something like this from happening to somebody else in our community or anywhere because it is 100 percent preventable," Newton said.

"We want something to happen so none of our friends will die again, or we won't have to watch people go through this, because it's one of the most traumatic things when innocent people die and didn't even know it was coming," Giuliani said.