By Staff Writer: Eliza Bengala
“Enduring regret” was the main message that Chris Sandy and Eric Krug wanted to bring to Howell High School seniors on the Wednesday before their prom, but they ended up bringing so much more.
“I had four drinks that night, back to back… and then my friend Jessie, he got into the passenger seat, and I got into the driver’s seat, and we drove off, but we never made it to our destination……,” Sandy dramatically stated as he told his story. At 22-years -old, he made the decision to drive drunk to a party with one of his friends. While speeding down a back road at approximately 80 miles per hour, he slammed into a vehicle, killing the elderly couple inside. Sandy spent over eight years in a maximum security prison, will be on parole until 2031, and will carry the guilt of killing two innocent people for the rest of his life.
“Thinking back on it now, yes I was definitely drunk, but back then, I thought that I just had a buzz that was no big deal. I climbed into my car and I killed somebody’s grandparents,” Sandy said during the assembly.
Still on probation, Sandy dedicates his life to going around and speaking to people about the regrets that he has had to endure from killing two people in the accident.
“I share this with you so that you understand how important it is to make the right choices, to make sure other people make the right choices, to make sure your friends make the right choices because if you don’t, you’ll endure regret for the rest of your life.”
Sandy’s best friend and brother in law Eric Krug assists Sandy on his assemblies. In 1997, Krug decided to ride in the car with a drunk driver, a decision that would change his life forever. During the crash, Krug hit his head on the tree that the driver slammed into, permanently injuring all lobes of his brain. Today, he is extremely limited on his speech and motor skills, using a wheel chair to get around and an iPad to speak for him. But Krug worst resents the fact that he can no longer play baseball. Being a very talented baseball player in college before his accident, all chances of Krug being able to play in Major League Baseball have been destroyed.
While it was obvious that Sandy and Krug had conveyed their message about regretting their poor decisions, HHS students were able to take away another powerful message.
At the end of the assembly, one student raised her hand and said that Krug and his love for his niece and nephew reminded her of her brother with disabilities who had passed away last year. The message of the assembly took a quick turn when HHS senior Sydney Healy-Laskowski stood up and began to speak about her brother Gage who has Angelman Syndrome.
“Having a disability doesn’t make you any less of a person,” Laskowski said during the assembly. “We shouldn’t put people down and call them names just because they have a disability.”
“There are millions of people in this world who make thousands or even millions of dollars each and every year. But what is the purpose of life if you don’t know what it means to appreciate the life you live?” Laskowski said in a later interview. “People with disabilities struggle with everyday things, and until you spend time with them and truly let them in to touch your heart, you will not appreciate the little things you are able to do each day.”
