Article Photos

Article Links

» Olympic bobsled track added to National Register of Historic Places » Paterson: State still supports ORDA, but more cuts possible

LAKE PLACID - Jim Shea Sr. says he's finally feeling some sense of closure eight-and-a-half years after his father, double Olympic gold medalist Jack Shea, was killed in a collision with an accused drunk driver.

As Jim Shea and other members of his family looked on Monday, Gov. David Paterson signed legislation named for Jack Shea. The law expands the list of medical personnel who can withdraw blood from a drunk driver without a doctor's supervision, closing a legal loophole that prevented the man accused of killing Jack Shea from standing trial.

"It's almost closure," Jim Shea said. "It's taken eight years for it to happen. I'm a little bit frustrated, but I'm so happy because I know what this is going to mean to others that might get involved in the position our family was in."

Previously, only physicians, registered professional nurses and registered physician's assistants could legally withdraw blood from a suspected drunk driver without a doctor's supervision.

The new law extends that authority to certified nurse practitioners and advanced emergency medical technicians. Clinical lab technicians and other medical personnel will also be able to draw blood from an intoxicated driver, if requested to do so by police, under the supervision of a doctor, physician's assistant or a certified nurse practitioner.

Paterson described the death of Shea as a "family's loss and the loss of a great man." The fact that the man accused of killing him never stood trial because of a technicality was a second tragedy, he said.

"Unfortunately, the Shea family never got justice," Paterson said during the bill-signing ceremony in Lake Placid's 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Museum. "But the family worked courageously and unremittingly over the past eight years. And today, after eight years of effort, their labor has born fruit."

Jack Shea, the patriarch of the first three-generation Olympic family, was killed in January 2002 at the age of 91. He was driving on West Valley Road (later renamed Wesvalley Road for E911) when his car was hit by a van driven by Herbert Reynolds of Saranac Lake. Both men were taken to Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake, where an emergency medical technician drew Reynolds' blood at the request of a police officer and with Reynolds' consent. Police said the test found his blood alcohol level was .15 percent, above the legal limit of .10 at the time (the limit is now .08).

But a jury never heard that evidence. It was ruled inadmissible because a doctor wasn't present when the blood was taken, as required by state Vehicle and Traffic Law. Vehicular manslaughter, DWI and other charges against Reynolds were eventually dismissed. Then-Essex County District Attorney Ronald Briggs appealed the ruling, but the decision was upheld by state Supreme Court's Appellate Division, which called on state lawmakers to amend the law.

Jack Shea's Law has been pending in the Legislature since 2006. It was repeatedly passed in the Senate but continually held up in the Assembly.

Jim Shea Sr. said getting the bill passed has been a "long and frustrating journey."

"I wish I could say it restores my faith in government, but it doesn't," he said. "For it to take eight years to make such a simple change, it really makes you wonder about our system."

Shea credited Joseph McCormack, an assistant district attorney in the Bronx County DA's Office, and Warren County DA Kate Hogan, chairwoman of the New York State District Attorneys Association, for building support for the measure.

He said he finally felt like the bill was going to move forward three months ago, when he, McCormack and Hogan met with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

"The speaker looked at us and said, 'We're going to fix this thing,'" Shea recalled. "I thought to myself, 'My God, if that happens, we've got a chance.'"

Asked why it took so long, Hogan said the bill had opponents, whom she declined to name because she wanted to keep Monday's event positive.

"There were people in the Assembly who did not want to entertain this bill, so it never got out of committee and it never was put on the floor," Hogan said. "This was something that was contrary to common sense and public safety, but it was roadblocked."

Hogan said the Shea family is not alone.

"Prior to today there were hundreds of cases where drunk drivers who killed or seriously injured people were having their blood drawn by someone who was legally entitled to draw blood in the medical community, but because of an anomaly in the state Vehicle and Traffic Law, could not draw blood for purposes of criminal prosecution," she said. "It resulted in critical evidence being suppressed and dismissed."

While state lawmakers were the ones who finally approved the bill, "it's really the advocates that made the law," Paterson said.

He also acknowledged that his signing the bill won't bring closure to the Shea family.

"Obviously this isn't going to bring Jack Shea back," he said, "but perhaps this will send a message to New Yorkers about how illegal and dangerous it is to have drunk driving and, unfortunately, the tragedies that arise from these circumstances."

Shea won two speed-skating gold medals during the 1932 Winter Olympics in his hometown. Later, as supervisor of the town of North Elba, he played a key role in bringing the Olympics back to Lake Placid in 1980. His son, Jim Shea Sr., competed in nordic skiing in the 1964 Olympics. His grandson, Jim Shea Jr., won a gold medal in skeleton in 2002, just a few weeks after his grandfather was killed.

---

Contact Chris Knight at 891-2600 ext. 24 or cknight@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.