By Deemah Pulak
For Red Ribbon week, the Richardson PTA asked two Dallas speakers, Swiatocha and John Patton to speak to students about the dangers of drunk driving.
“We can compare ourselves to a violin, like how sometimes we get out of tune,” PTA member Bonnie Muir said. “If we try to get that perfect chord A, our grades might improve, our friends and relationships might improve, and we won’t be bound to drink and drive.”
When Swiatocha was 10, a drunk driver ran a red light and crashed into his mother’s car while she was crossing an intersection. A pregnant woman in the other car was killed and Swiatocha ended up with a traumatic brain injury that resulted in a coma.
“I can still remember my mom turning up the volume of music and then a car just came and crashed our van 17 feet in the air,” Swiatocha said.
Swiatocha said doctors thought he had a slim chance of surviving.
“The fact that I am here surviving today and sharing my story with all of you is truly a miracle,” Swiatocha said. “I am living proof of a victim and survivor of drunk driving.”
Patton, a Lake Highlands graduate, was drunk when he killed one person and severely injured two others after crashing into a car turning left on an intersection.
“The music was playing really loud and there was a blind spot,” Patton said. “The car came out of nowhere and that’s it. Everything changed at that moment.”
Patton said that in the past he promised himself that he would always drive carefully while he was drunk, and he never saw a problem with drinking and driving at the same time.
“I had a false sense of reality,” Patton said. “I never in a million years would have thought that I would get arrested and go to prison. Never in a million years did I ever think that I would kill someone.”
Patton dreamt of attending UT Austin to double major in business and psychology before going to law school.
“I pretty much had the world ahead of me,” Patton said. “But it was too late. One life was destroyed and gone forever and ever and ever.”
Students from the audience said that the assembly showed them the dangers of drunk driving.
“I thought the assembly was touching and a good wake up call to the high school students,” freshman Fiona Wong said.
Students said they loved that the two speakers spoke passionately about the perils of drinking and driving.
“I’ve never heard about drugs and drunk driving, so the entire experience was unique,” freshman Areefa Hingora said. “I feel like the high schoolers will now think twice before drinking and driving.”