Repeat DUI offenders more of a menace

Deana’s Law, named for a Delaware County woman killed by a serial drunken driver, can’t happen too soon.

Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of the death of 45-year-old Deana Eckman of Delaware County at the hands of a serial drunk driver.

Her family and friends have been soothed in what they call an “endless nightmare” in the hope that her senseless death will result in a legacy of preventing another family from enduring this nightmare.

Championed by state Sen. Tom Killion, R-9 of Middletown, they have been pushing a package of legislation known as “Deana’s Law.” The measure would toughen penalties for repeat DUI drivers, including making sure that sentences for multiple offenders are not allowed to run concurrently, but instead consecutively.

David Strowhouer, the Newtown Square man now doing 25 and a half to 50 years in prison for the horrific crash that took Deana Eckman’s life, likely would not have been on the street — and thus able to again climb behind the wheel while impaired — if the measure had been in effect.

Deana’s Law would impose tougher sentences for multiple offenders and — maybe most importantly — allow use of continuous monitoring bracelets statewide in these cases for the first time.

The bill would boost sentencing guidelines for a fourth and fifth DUI offenses to five to 10, and 10 to 20 years, respectively.

The measure includes several other crucial elements to combat the scourge of the repeat drunk driver, including:

• Requiring continuous alcohol monitoring devices - also known as CAM or SCRAM for Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor in the form of bracelet technology that automatically notifies officials when repeat DUI offenders consume alcohol in violation of court directives.

• Doubling the time period repeat DUI offenders must use ignition interlock devices on their vehicles;

• Directing the Pennsylvania State Police, PennDOT and the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts to formulate recommendations for using DUI Courts around the state. DUI Courts specialize in drunk driving cases to better focus on the appropriate sentencing and treatment of DUI offenders.

The bracelets, similar to devices used for home monitoring, would detect the presence of alcohol and alert authorities, hopefully before a suspect can get behind the wheel again.

It can’t happen a day too soon.

That’s because the multiple DUI offender is becoming more and more of a menace.

Two other cases from just the first two months of 2020 remind us of the need to change the law when it comes to the effort to keep multiple DUI offender off the roads.

Mark Anthony Perrotta, Delaware County, is now facing his 11th DUI offense. And just last week only the quick actions of an Upper Providence police officer prevented a tragedy when an impaired driver drove his pickup truck in the wrong direction on the Media Bypass. It was John Martinka’s seventh DUI arrest and less than a month after his sixth arrest in Berks County.

One of the things that make DUI drivers so dangerous is that there is little law enforcement can do if someone is determined to drive while impaired.

That’s certainly the lesson of the Deana Eckman case. The hope is that Deana’s Law — with its tougher sentences and measures to detect if a person has been using alcohol — will help in the effort to keep this scourge off the roads.

Deana’s Law overwhelmingly passed the Senate on a 43-6 vote and is now in the hands of the House Transportation Committee. It’s likely they will make changes to the bill, send it out to a vote by the full House and then back to the Senate to concur on any changes before heading to the governor for his signature.

The hope was that Deana’s Law would have been on the books in time for the one-year anniversary of her death.

That did not happen. While we wait for action by the House, perhaps the words of Deana’s mother, Roseann DeRosa, would make a potential drunk driver think twice before climbing behind the wheel.

“It’s like living a dream that you can never wake up from, except it’s a nightmare,” she said. “It’s just a lifelong nightmare. I think we’re still in some kind of shock over it that she’s no longer here and that’s the hardest part.”