Teens Survive Being Hit By Drunken Driver, Aim To Change Law

WOODBURY, Minn. (WCCO) -- It was a horrible accident that changed their lives forever. But three Minnesota teenagers are using that bad experience to do something good.

Edward Jaworski was a repeat drunken driver with a suspended license. But police say he still drank margaritas all afternoon one Sunday last August. And after the bar stopped serving him, somebody reported seeing him driving drunk.

That's when Woodbury Police say they saw him going more than 80 miles per hour before slamming into another car.

"We were hit at such a speed that we shouldn't have survived," said Chelsea Vadnais.

She was driving, Page Plunkett was in the passenger seat and Sean Fitzpatrick was in the back seat. All of them are students at Woodbury East Ridge High School.

They were stopped at a red light on Valley Creek Road and Woodbury Drive. Suddenly, there was an explosion from behind.

"It didn't really hit me, what happened, at all, until afterward and I was just sitting there," said Vadnais. "I yelled 'Sean's in the car, Sean's in the car. Get him out.'"

Emergency crews on the scene helped keep Sean Fitzpatrick alive.

"You can see a big fracture right here where his jaw was crushed," said Dr. Mark Gormley, a pediatric rehabilitative doctor at Gillette Children's Hospital.

"When he first came in, he had a lot of severe injuries and we weren't sure whether he'd get everything back," said Gormley.

"I remember it felt like someone hit me in the face with a hammer," said Fitzpatrick.

Six months after the crash, his recovery has been remarkable. Doctors credit his hard work and strong will.

"Stuff happens in life and it's not good, but you gotta move on and make the best of it," said Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick and his friends are making the best of it by raising awareness about drunk driving. There's a banner at school and wristbands: "That say:  Sean's rule -- no drinking and driving," said Vadnais.

"I know a lot of my friends think twice now about drinking and driving, or don't do it at all," said Fitzpatrick. "And make a larger effort to find sober rides, you know, just a lot more cautious."

"So basically, it opened a lot of people's eyes saying 'Whoa I'm not going to drink and drive after this party because it happens,'" said Plunkett.

But Vadnais wants to do more because of what she says she remembers after the crash.

"Someone yelled to me that 'You were hit by a drunk driver,'" said Vadnais. "I got out of the car and I looked at him and he like was smiling, like laughing. So that's always in my head."

She's trying to change drunken driving laws so that someone like Jaworski wouldn't be on the road after multiple DWIs.

"I'm glad that there's awareness and it's going to do good," said Fitzpatrick. "I'm not glad that it had to be me but maybe I save someone's life. That'd be cool. That would be worth it, that's very worth it."

The proposal to change the law is called "Fitzy's Law," after Sean Fitzpatrick. It would make the punishment for a second DWI involving an accident to at least 5 years in jail. Currently, the penalty for a second offense is one year and/or a fine of $3,000.

As for Jaworski, he's in jail waiting to go on trial for this accident. Police locked him up because he was picked up again last month after rolling his vehicle into a ditch.

Joan Gilbertson, Producer
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