The drunken driving case that left a Nassau police officer critically injured and launched Nassau County’s controversial DWI “Wall of Shame” is set to begin trial Monday in Mineola.
Rahiem Griffin, 27, faces charges that he sped drunk down the Long Island Expressway in Plainview last May, slamming into Officer Kenneth Baribault, who had pulled over to stop a second suspected drunken driver.
A year after the crash, Baribault, 30, remains paralyzed on his right side, and can speak only in single syllables. Prosecutors say it “remains to be seen” if he will testify.
“It will be very difficult for us to relive what was the worst day of our lives,” said Baribault’s sister Danielle Rella, 24, of Fort Salonga. “But my family is hoping for justice.”
Trial in case that launched ‘Wall of Shame’ to begin
Griffin’s lawyer, Gerard Brogdon of Jamaica, Queens, would not speak about the details of his defense before the trial starts, but he said his client does take some responsibility for what happened.
“Mr. Griffin is not under the impression that he is completely innocent in this situation, he just does not feel that he is guilty of everything he’s been charged with,” Brogdon said.
Griffin faces charges of second-degree assault, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 7 years in prison.
“We are confident that our evidence will show that he operated his car recklessly, and that that recklessness included being drunk,” said trial prosecutor Maureen McCormick, head of the Nassau district attorney’s office’s vehicular crimes unit.
Prosecutors have said Griffin, of Shirley, had a blood-alcohol content of .13 percent at the time of the crash. The legal limit is .08 percent.
Last Memorial Day, about a week after Baribault was hurt, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi began releasing the names and photographs of everyone arrested on charges of drunken driving – and encouraging the media to do the same – in a project he called the “Wall of Shame.”
The names were posted every week until one defendant successfully sued the county, saying that Nassau officials were violating her constitutional rights by publicly “shaming” her on the wall before she had been convicted of any crime. Suozzi then agreed to stop posting the names and photos of accused drunken drivers until after they had been convicted.
Rella said she and Baribault’s other sister Jennifer Baribault, 33, plan to attend the trial every day.
Rella said after a year, her brother can understand much of what is said to him, but it’s still difficult for him to speak. She said he can walk only with the support of two therapists.
Rella said the crash’s aftermath has been most difficult for Baribault’s son, Christopher, 7, who is still not able to talk to his dad the way he once did.
“Even if Kenneth recovers 100 percent, this will affect him the rest of his life,” she said. She said if Griffin is convicted, he will be free in less than a decade. “He will go back to normal, but Kenneth will always live with this.”
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Well written.