Don't Drink && Drive - The Story of Joseph Ryan Marino

A friend of mine was the original creator of this lovely video.

Though this is not usually the type of video I usually put together, after hearing this young man's tragic story, I was heartbroken and felt this needed to be told. Awareness for drinking and driving is so necessary. Please, remember Joe's sweet face next time you're about to get behind the wheel after too many drinks. Drinking and driving is not okay and it usually, and sadly, ends in this way. This could have so easily been prevented and this womans poor choice resulted in Joe's death.

A drunken Mattituck driver with her 6-year-old son in tow crashed into a 15-year-old boy on a Hampton Bays street, police said, leaving the teen clinging to life.

The accident happened during the same week that lawmakers called for harsher penalties for those who drive drunk with children.

Joseph Marino was standing with his bicycle at Ponquogue Avenue and Argonne Road East at about 8:40 p.m. Wednesday, talking to two friends, when Caroline Goss, 34, drove her 2001 Jeep Cherokee into him, police said.

Southampton Town police said Goss, a nurse, had her son with her and was intoxicated.

Marino suffered massive head injuries from the crash, which happened just minutes from his home, said Edmond Chakmakian of Hauppauge, the Marino family attorney and a family friend.

Marino was airlifted to Stony Brook University Medical Center as his distraught mother, Dorothy Marino, pulled up in her car, Chakmakian said. She had been worried when her son didn't return home from a friend's house and had set out to look for him, he said.

While Marino was awake at the scene, he slipped into unconsciousness and has not awakened since, Chakmakian said.

Thursday, Marino's distraught family gathered in the pediatric intensive care unit, where they absorbed the news that the boy is likely brain dead, Chakmakian said.

"His parents and brothers and cousins have maintained a constant vigil at his bedside," he said. "They are all destroyed."

Goss was arraigned Thursday on misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated and endangering the welfare of a child, and having an open container of alcohol in the car, a violation. Det. Sgt. Randy Hintze said it's possible those charges will be upgraded.

Just last month, authorities said, a drunken West Babylon mother with five children in her minivan plowed through wrong-way traffic on the Taconic State Parkway, killing herself, four of the children, and three men in another vehicle.

A neighbor of Goss who asked not to be named said Goss is a single mother of two boys, aged 6 and 10, who now are at her parents' home in Mattituck. Goss works the midnight shift at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, and was a waitress on the weekends, the friend said.

"It's horrifying what happened," the friend said.

Goss could not be reached; she remained in jail Thursday in lieu of $20,000 bail.

A man who said he was Goss' father had no comment.

A Mather hospital spokesman confirmed Goss works in the critical care unit there.

Suffolk County Child Protective Services are now investigating the family, police said.

Driving records show that Goss had a previous conviction for driving while impaired in Riverhead in 2003, for which she paid a fine of $400. Records also show her license was on probation for six months in 2004.

Marino is an athletic teen, a wrestler who looked forward to trying out for the football team next year, Chakmakian said. He has a girlfriend and was about to start 11th grade at Hampton Bays High School.

"He was a very safe rider, loved to bike. It's a nice neighborhood place and an extremely well-lit road," Chakmakian said.

In Loving Memory of Joe.
Forever Fifteen.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Joseph
• Marino
• Teen
• Hampton
• Bay
• Alcohol
• Related
• Crash
• Angel

[channelforthecure]

@adalbertomodesusa He was only 15 years old & would have turned 16 the next month. The woman got out of jail, I don't know how, maybe on a bail. Fucking bitch. I hope she rots in hell.

[babybrunettex13]

i miss him so much :( god bless his family.

[jessicajaramillo911]

F@(*&^#%$drunk drivers,  they should be put in jail for the rest of their life.

[PMiddy001]

Such a tragedy. we at Pete Middleton Pictures Feel strongly about making more people aware if the dangers of drink driving and just created our new Anti- drink driving campaign video for Christmas 2011.

Lets work together to stop it in its track before another innocent life is lost

You have our deepest sympathy in your time of loss.Please do if you have time look at our new video and let us know what you think

again deepest sympathy

Pete Middleton.

[getuglyyx3]

My friend died pretty much the same way on July 4, 2011.. R.i.p Joe Marino & Skylar Marie Hull.

[scorpietta]

As a nurse myself all I can say is that this woman is a disgrace and needs to permanently be stripped of her license to practice.

[watertakken]

So sad. poor kid.

[dianea111]

omg!! so sad he died on my birthday i wanna cry

[Persianroyal1]

In the wake of this tragedy, we learned the power of community and how it can help us all get through the darkest of times. Miss you Joey