Reilly Anzovino’s Friends Plea For New Law

By Doug Draper

Friends of Fort Erie, Ontario teen Reilly Anzovino are asking the province to establish a new law, requiring that families of loved ones involved in serious car crashes be notified of the incident as soon as possible.

Reilly's brother Kain, with Reilly's friends from left, Kate Kutka, Jamal Mills-Alexander, Emma Kutka and Brianna Reay at the Welland courthouse. Photo by Doug Draper

 Reilly’s friends shared their plea for what they are calling “Reilly’s Law” with members of the media at a Welland courthouse this December 21, where an Ontario coroner’s inquest in to the circumstances surrounding their friend’s death two years ago this holiday season was in to its final hours.

 The Fort Erie teen was pronounced dead at the Niagara Health System’s Welland hospital site at 1:21 a.m. on December 27, 2009 following an accident that occurred almost two hours earlier on a Fort Erie stretch of Highway 3. Reilly’s parents were contactd by Ontario Provincial Police at 1:17  a.m.

 Earlier this month, Tim Anzovino, Reilly’s father testified that he was upset at the delay in notifying the family that their daughter was in serious peril. “If we could have been there (earlier) we could have comforted her,” he said. “The biggest thing for me is that it would have been the last time I could have told her that I loved her.”

This December 20, at the Welland courthouse, Reilly’s friends shared the following statement:

“There is not one person out there who wouldn’t want a loved one at their side when they have been injured in an accident.

Reilly died alone, afraid and in pain, surrounded by strangers while her parents were only 12 minutes away.

We stand here today as a voice for Reilly, as her friends who knew her best,  that she had the right to be comforted by her mother and father and brother at a time when she needed them most.

For this reason we are calling on the Government of Ontario and its elected members of parliament to introduce a bill called “Reilly’s law”- a law (not a policy, or guideline) that would require police officers first on the scene of an accident to immediately notify family members of a person who is seriously injured and unable to contact family themselves.

We can never say 100% whether Reilly would have survived her injuries or not, but we are 100% certain that she did not want to be without her family at her side.

Unfortunately we cannot change this for Reilly now, but in her memory,” Reilly’s law” can change it for others.

By Kate Kutka & friends

A lawyer for the OPP said at the inquest this December 20 that the police did what they could to notify the family given the uncertain circumstances. The officer on the scene of the crash, he said, could not predict what might become of Reilly whose condition apparently worsened, according to evidence, minutes before she arrived at the Welland hospital.

 It may have been unsafe for the family to call them to the scene immediately following the crash, said the lawyer, given the icy conditions that night and the chaos at the accident site.

 A draft recommendation to authorities, asking for notifying the family as soon as possible following a serious crash incident, was being reviewed by a five-person jury at the inquest today. Niagara At Large will report on the status of that recommendation when the jury tables its conclusion later this December 21.

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