Pocono News Section

I-Team: Drunk Driving Laws Too Lenient?

I-Team: Drunk Driving Laws Too Lenient? - Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 11:18PM EST

He says he's fighting an uphill battle. The I-Team speaks to a man who says drunk drivers are protected by empty state laws. He says the laws are mere loopholes and are too lenient. The I-Team’s Joe Holden has his touching story.

On the surface, Ed Lindsey's story is simple. “Something needs to be done about drunk driving,” he says.

The Susquehanna County man has written hundreds of letters and some 20,000 emails. Lindsey blames legislators for what he calls the band-aiding of drunk driving. “It's murder. And I find three or four years in prison, little or nothing, for murder,” he tells the I-Team’s Joe Holden.

But getting past Ed Lindsey's exterior, a retired PennDOT diesel mechanic, reveals a shattered world.

Meet his granddaughter Megan Madeline Thomas. “And she loved dressing in her princess outfit, and in which we buried her in, her princess outfit,” he recalls.

Only 5 and in kindergarten, helping dad with projects and getting a hang of corn on the cob, Megan's life was ended by a drunk driver March 17, 2006. “She was only seconds from being in the church driveway,” he says.

It made no difference. A car slammed into the back of Megan’s. The family was on its way to church in New Milford, where Megan's other grandpop was pastor. “My mother-in-law was alright. My grandson received a bump. But they couldn't find Megan. My wife was knocked unconscious,” he remembers.

A night of fun had left a family torn apart on the roadside. That drunk driver sped off. “And the last words my granddaughter spoke to my wife was, ‘Grandma, I can't breathe’," says Lindsey.

Little did family members know they'd be saying goodbye to Megan for the very last time along the roadside. Megan leaves behind two brothers a mom, dad, and a grandfather who vows to continue his fight against the man who left Megan dead and a government he says is equally responsible.

“I blame everyone for letting it continue. Your legislators, state representatives,” he says.

Ed Lindsey believes politicians are motivated by alcohol money, taxes and proceeds. “Because alcohol is big business. You know, and that revenue is just too much to bypass,” he says.

But he admits, he might as well be in a war. He hopes he'll be invited to Harrisburg to testify someday. Ed says he'll repeat the message he's written time and time again to legislators, to cut out the band-aids. “This is not stopping drinking and driving, in my opinion. The only thing that will is by taking away the license,” he says.

The man who killed Megan could see be free as early as 2010. It's little Megan who keeps her granddaddy going. “She reminds me to keep up with legislators to try and keep get bills passed so some other family doesn’t have to go through this,” says Lindsey.

The drunk driver who took Megan Thomas' life could remain in jail if a parole board keeps him there. Otherwise, he'll be free in 2010.