York police hope kids can convince people not to drink and drive

A Toronto-area police force is hoping friends of three children killed by an impaired driver can persuade people not to drink and drive.

Nine-year-old Daniel Neville-Lake, his five-year-old brother Harrison, their two-year-old sister Milly and the children’s 65-year-old grandfather, Gary Neville, died after the van they were in was hit by a speeding SUV driven by Marco Muzzo.

Const. Andy Pattenden says he’s “astonished” the number of impaired driving-related charges laid by York regional police hasn’t dropped since the September 2015 crash in Vaughan and the high profile court case that followed.

York regional police say they asked friends of the Neville-Lakes to share how impaired driving has impacted them.

The children drew pictures, which police have posted on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #NotOneMore, to illustrate their grief.

Carmine said impaired driving cost him his “bestest” friend, while Noah — who used to play basketball with Daniel — said stepping on the court won’t be the same thanks to an impaired driver.

Police say Carmine — whose drawing shows an equation of alcohol plus a car equals a tombstone — still has a card that he received from Daniel on his ninth birthday.

Hanging on Carmine’s wall, it reads: “To Carmine, you are the bestest friend that I ever had. From, Daniel.”

Police say Carmine had a difficult time going to school last September knowing his friend wouldn’t be there.

Noah’s drawing shows a solitary child on a basketball court and says “playing basketball will never be the same without my friend Daniel Neville-Lake — all because of a drunk driver.”

“Noah had a hard time celebrating his 10th birthday,” police said.

On Facebook, Jennifer Neville-Lake noted July 8 would have been her son Harry’s seventh birthday and shared a picture drawn by one of his friends.

“My first BFF is gone,” reads the caption on the girl’s drawing.

“Her mom writes ‘My daughter and Harry met in kindergarten,'” Neville-Lake states in the post.

Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a judge said he must be held accountable for the irreversible suffering he’d caused.

Muzzo had already accrued a lengthy record of driving infractions — many of them for speeding — when he made the fateful decision to drink and drive after returning home from a trip to Miami, said Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst.

Outside the courthouse following the sentencing, Jennifer Neville-Lake said her family was a tragic reminder of the consequences of drinking and driving.

“Please, keep in mind: When you choose to drink and drive, you’re hurting other families, you’re killing someone else’s babies, like mine were killed,” she said.

Pattenden said at a press conference Friday in Richmond Hill, Ont., that more than 700 impaired driving-related charges have been laid in York Region so far this year, noting that down “a little bit” from last year.

“I’m astonished the numbers have not gone down,” he said. “We all watched as Jennifer poured her heart out at the end of every one of those court appearances.”

Pattenden said he thought with all the publicity it would have had an impact, especially in York Region, “but it doesn’t seem to have.”

“I just don’t know that people are putting themselves in that headspace that after they’ve had a few drinks and get into a car that they may be the next one to kill a family,” he said.

“Maybe if the police aren’t going to convince you, maybe these young kids here and the tragedies that they’ve gone through and their feelings will convince you.”