Texting trucker sentenced in crash
5-year-old Upper Dublin girl in back seat of family vehicle killed
Evan Griffiths exchanged several text messages in a search to score drugs for his birthday in the minutes before his box truck plowed into stalled traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Lehigh County, killing a 5-year-old Esther Park of Upper Dublin and upending a dozen other lives.
Although Griffiths tearfully expressed remorse and Esther’s father said he could forgive Griffiths, Lehigh County Judge Robert L. Steinberg said at Griffiths’ sentencing Wednesday that anything less than the state prison sentence sought by prosecutors would depreciate the seriousness of the case.
“Your actions have caused the death of a 5-year-old girl whose last actions were giggling with her family in the back seat of their vehicle,” said Steinberg, who read letters from the survivors of the June 20, 2019, crash in Lower Milford Township before handing down Griffiths’ sentence.
For homicide by vehicle, to which Griffiths pleaded guilty in February, he will serve 1 ½ to seven years in state prison. Steinberg also sentenced Griffiths to one to two years on each of seven counts of reckless endangerment, which he also admitted. Those sentences will be served concurrently.
Prosecutors said Griffiths, 45, of Pittston, Luzerne County, was behind the wheel of a box truck and texting before the crash. The chain-reaction crash between the Lehigh Valley and Quakertown exits injured 12 people.
The Park family was returning from a visit with relatives in New York to their home in Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County.
Esther’s father, Chiho Park, testified through a Korean interpreter Wednesday that the crash
left the surviving members of the family, including his wife and Esther’s two siblings, with physical, mental and emotional injuries they continue to suffer.
“We’re still suffering very much from this shocking event,” he said. “It turned our life upside down. It has a huge impact on our family.”
Park, a United Methodist pastor, said that if he heard Griffiths take responsibility for his actions and express remorse, then he could forgive him. He said he’s empathetic, knowing that Griffiths has a son of his own.
“I know what’s it’s like being a parent. I don’t want to take away a father from that child,” Park said.
Griffiths told the court Wednesday that he lives with emotional pain from the crash so deep that he has considered taking his own life, but believes he should live with the pain as punishment.
“I go to bed at night and pray for Esther every day that she has found a place of comfort and that she did not suffer for a single second in that accident,” Griffiths said. Griffiths said he went to work the day of the crash even though it was his day off to earn extra money for his son’s graduation party. Since the crash, he has stopped at the scene to leave a rosary, flowers or just pray.
“I’ve waited since the day of the accident to tell you how sorry I am and how I wish I could change what happened,” Griffiths said. “Esther is a part of me now. This pain and grief that I feel is like I lost my own child even though I didn’t know her.”
Steinberg noted that Park’s testimony only touched the surface of the upheaval in his family’s life. Reading from a letter to the court, Steinberg said Park noted that his older two children have changed completely, withdrawing from school and becoming fearful of strangers and traveling by car.
Park’s wife, Suhee Park, is pregnant with another child but feels guilty that it would replace Esther, he said in the letter. Park said he is only now dealing with the injuries he suffered because he felt responsible for caring for the others.
Steinberg also read a letter from Joseph Muzikar, who was in another vehicle with his wife when Griffiths’ truck hit them. He lives with the traumatic memory of Park screaming in search of his baby that forces him to relive the trauma of losing his own son to cancer.
His wife, Mary Muzicar, suffered burns that resulted in a large scar that is a daily physical reminder of the crash. Joseph Muzicar also said he recalled Griffiths sitting in his truck apparently unconcerned for the people injured in the crash.
Steinberg noted that evidence gathered by state police indicated Griffiths continued to exchange text messages in his search for suboxone pills within minutes of the crash. Suboxone is a medication used to treat those who are addicted to opiates which, as an opiate itself, is often abused.
While Steinberg said he believes Griffiths is remorseful, his remorse can’t reverse the loss his actions caused.
“You had every opportunity to prevent this from happening,” Steinberg said.