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Alycia Washington
Ms. Waldsmith
Journalism, 5th hour
Final
DWI: Drinking While Immature
It was an average day for 63 year old Robert Cardillo. He was on his way back home
from the mall along with his son Christopher, and Christopher’s friend Tom Bartolone, both 15
at the time. While it was an ordinary trip home, the left turn Cardillo would take leaving the mall
would change his life forever.
Suddenly, a plumbers van appeared racing from the intersection and collided with
Cardillo’s car. The accident was caused by a 16 year old, drunk driver, in a stolen plumbers van.
Cardillo’s injuries were so severe that the doctors had to put him in a medically induced
coma. The collision broke all of his ribs, collapsed his lungs, bruised his heart, cut open his
kidneys, prompting renal failure, fractured his pelvis and caused deep, multiple cuts up and down
his body, from his scalp to his toes.
Christopher Cardillo suffered a severe concussion in the crash, resulting in temporary
brain damage that left him feeling dazed, forgetful and confused for several months. Bartolone
suffered similar injuries.
Donna Cardillo, Robert’s wife stated that “after the accident she wanted to confront the
16-year-old boy who had so devastated her family and see his parents”, according to the Asbury
Park Press.
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Before the accident Robert Cardillo was a successful Wall Street executive and former
New York restaurateur living the American dream. Now, he is in almost constant pain from
injury-induced arthritis and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder from the
crash.
The legal drinking age in the United States is 21. However, many adolescents often avoid
this law for the sake of fun. Underage drinking is becoming a huge problem in the United States
and is affecting the lives of not just those who consume it, but those going about their ordinary
days like Cardillo.
The question that is commonly asked is: why do adolescents drink? There have been so
many deaths, suicides, car accidents involving adolescents and the reason is almost always due to
drinking. Why don’t they stop?
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the
brain keeps developing well into the twenties, during which it continues to establish important
communication connections and further refines its function. Scientists believe that this may help
explain adolescent’s propensity to seek out new and potentially dangerous situations, like
drinking or doing drugs.
In 2009, 2,053 youth 12- 20 years old were admitted for alcohol treatment in Michigan,
accounting for 8% of all treatment admissions for alcohol abuse in the state. Young people, who
begin drinking before age 15, are four times more likely to abuse alcohol then people who start
drinking at 21 according to the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center.
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“Addiction is one of the biggest long term effects”, says Katie Callan, Mercy High
School Health teacher. “The younger a person starts drinking, the higher their risk is of
becoming an alcoholic”.
In 2009 there were an estimated 76 homicides, 39,500 nonfatal violent crimes such as
rape, robbery and assault, and 53,300 property crimes including burglary, larceny, and car theft
due to underage drinking in Michigan, also according to the Underage Drinking Enforcement
Training Center. Young people today, rely on alcohol in order to have a good time or to have fun
because it’s considered to be “normal” or “the hype”.
“Living on a college campus I see people get drunk all the time”, says Christian Brooks,
20, junior at University of Pittsburg. “I see people drunk to the point where they need to go to the
hospital, but they don’t for fear that they will get an underage”.
Underage drinking also plays a huge role in teenagers participating in risky sexual
behavior including: unwanted, unintended, and unprotected sexual activity and sex with multiple
partners. In 2009, 46% of high school students had sexual intercourse, according to Students
against Destructive Decisions (SADD), and 13.8% had four or more sex partners during their
life. Prior to the sexual activity, 21.6% drank alcohol or used drugs. Only 38.9% used a
condom.
The primary influence for underage drinking is the media. Brands named by adolescents
as their favorites tended to be the same brands that have high advertising expenditures, such as
Budweiser and Smirnoff. The purpose of these commercials is to influence someone to buy
something, because it is being endorsed by some world renowned model or musician.
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“I think teens drink because of pressure”, says Callan. “Not only pressure from their
peers, but from media. All types of media portray drinking as sexy, glamorous, and almost a
necessity to live a happy life”.
The Driving under the Influence Foundation has a goal to educate and prevent underage
drinking and driving under the influence. They want to break down the barrier of ignorance that
many young people today have embedded into their minds.
Is the pressure really worth putting someone else’s life at risk? Alcohol when misused,
especially for the sake of fun, can have deadly effects. It puts not only your life, but those around
you at risk. Robert Cardillo was extremely lucky that his life, along with his son and his friend’s
lives were spared that night because of a teenager’s near fatal mistake.