vip presentation philip mundy drinking and driving

DRINKING AND DRIVING: VICTIMS IMPACT

Phillip W. Mundy

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This is Phil; he was 32 years old when he was killed by a drunk driver on March 23rd 1996.

He was a father

He was a son

He was a brother

He was a friend

He was my fiancé

What Happened to Phil?


On the morning of March 23rd 1996 Phil was driving on Military Trail on his way to pick me up from work (I worked nights).

His car was traveling south-bound in the far right lane preparing to make a right hand turn into a parking lot.

Another vehicle also traveling south-bound crossed from the far left lane and rear-ended Phil’s vehicle at approximately 85 mph

Phil Was Killed Instantly


Phil’s vehicle was shoved forward; it hit a curb and flipped over. The momentum continued sending his vehicle through a light pole cutting it in half before the vehicle hit another parked car.

Phil may have seen headlights in the rearview; that’s all he would have had time for.

He suffered Blunt Head Trauma (this is what they call it when your brain’s frontal lobes impact the inside of your skull causing massive damage)

I Had to Call His Mom


There are some things you never want to hear a neurosurgeon say, like “There is nothing we can do; the damage is just too extensive. I’m so sorry.”

There are some things you never want to have to say to someone’s Mother, like “Peggy, it’s me Cherilyn, I don’t know how to tell you this, but there has been a crash and… Phil is gone. He was killed Peggy…”

We had to arrange a funeral.

The Driver


Attempted to leave the scene but the vehicle was too damaged.

She was injured in the crash

It was her second D.U.I.

She attempted to avoid the sentencing

She received a sentence of 11 years

She was the mother of two teenage children

Tis time for remembrance

For things past

Wonderful legends and spells

To be cast

To be a time lord shifting around

By no clock or calendar bound

What glorious things will I see

What timely visions wait for me

I shall embark upon this journey

To see a joust and a grand tourney

I shall see wars fought in foreign lands

I shall see soldiers dying on desert sands

With no one to guide me except mine heart

It does please me on this trek to start

I won’t ever be content with legends and tales

But that’s the way of time when logic fails

Phil Was a Talented Poet

His poem “Millennium Shift” was published posthumously in “Through Sun and Shower- The National Library of Poetry 1997.

Phil was a Talented Artist


He liked the water color medium and did his own picture framing.

He was not famous but he enjoyed the creative process and loved making pieces for those he knew would love them.

He Was a Talented Singer and Guitarist


He was not famous but enjoyed making tapes of himself talking to, singing and playing guitar for his daughter

Mostly Phil Was


A kind and decent man who was beloved by all who knew him: his family; his friends and myself.

Hands stuffed into pockets

The sound of sprinklers

Soaking the sidewalks

Quietly I pass by

Will I ever smile again

In the early morning evening

Not much going on

Lurking in shadows

Watching the world sleep


Cut out of life

It flows on by

Like a vampire

I can only watch


When I see you

I see your discomfiture

At my presence

Hiding in your eyes


WHAT IS IT LIKE TO LOSE SOMEONE YOU LOVE THIS WAY?

I’m not the same

We lack common ground

Not my choice

I didn’t kill anyone

Yet I pay the price

No I’m not happy

What did you expect

My lover’s dead

You get over it


Walk in my shoes

Before you judge me

I will survive

No thanks to you

This a freak show

Am I the joke

Maybe for you

But I’m not laughing


I am the vampire

I am walking dead

Strength of will

Keeps me from destruction


I have some hope

I am still alive

A bitter disappointment

Is my current existence

Yet I pay the price

FOR THE FIRST FEW YEARS LIKE THIS

AND THEN FOR A FEW MORE YEARS LIKE THIS:A shard of glass rests upon a desk before me

Candlelight flickers over its surface in warm delight

I ponder what form in days long gone

Might have given it perfection

In wholeness was it beautiful was it loved

What violent turn of sad events shattered it asunder

From the whole of its existence came its demise

Caused it to cut those around it until it found the sea

How long before the edges blunted

Pain easing to distant ache

How long before it found its way to shore

Becoming a symbolic lesson to one of earth’s children

Souls are often wounded we were meant to cry

But the ocean dulls the sea glass

As time dulls the ache inside

EIGHTEEN YEARS HAVE GONE BYI still miss him

The person I was before he was killed is long gone

The angry and bitter person I was for those first few years is too

That took a lot of work and certainly impacted the rest of my life

I never married or had children

I have had to develop patience with ignorant remarks about whether or not I am “over it’

You never get “over it” you just learn to live with it

I had to learn forgiveness

That took many years

Phil was the victim of a drunk driver and I am one of many of his survivors

I hope that if you drink alcohol and drive that I have given you something to think about

If not you should be aware you could kill yourself, someone you love or a total stranger

Please think about this carefully

In memory of Phillip W. Mundy

October 25 1964-March 23 1996

Dedicated to our families and friends

• Millennium Shift- Phillip W. Mundy

• Will I Ever Smile Again- Cherilyn Formanek

• Sea Glass- Cherilyn Formanek