On the same day of Muzzo apology, three drunk drivers charged in York

The same day that Marco Muzzo made a heartfelt apology to the family of the three children and grandfather that he killed in a tragic drunk driving crash in September, three impaired drivers were arrested in York Region, the same region in which the Muzzo crash occurred.

“I will forever be haunted by the reality of what I have done and I am truly sorry,” Muzzo told the parents of Daniel, Harrison and Milly Neville-Lake during his sentencing hearing Wednesday. “I am at a loss for words and I am on a constant search for the right way to express to you my sorrow.”

Clearly Muzzo’s remorse rings hollow to those who still choose to drink and drive.

On Wednesday night at about 11 p.m., York police pulled over a vehicle that struck a curb and was weaving in and out of a lane on Leslie Street approaching Highway 7 East in Richmond Hill. Alana Burstein, 42, was pulled over after narrowly missing a traffic light and was charged with impaired driving, blowing over 80 mg of alcohol and failure to stop at the scene of an accident.

Early Thursday at about 12:30 a.m., officers detected a strong odour of alcohol on a person they had pulled over for a routine traffic stop on Doughton Road and Maplecrete Road in Vaughan. Twenty-one-year-old Domenico Palombo of Vaughan was arrested and charged with blowing over 80 mg.

At about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, police spotted a vehicle driving about 35 km/h over the speed limit on Keele Street near Drummond Drive in Vaughan. As officers attempted to stop the van, it swerved in and out of lanes. The driver, 35-year-old Dani Mishayev of Toronto, failed a roadside breathalyzer test and was subsequently arrested and charged with going over 80 mg.

On March 29, Muzzo will be sentenced by a judge in the deaths of the four Neville-Lake family members. The Crown has asked for 10-12 years in prison while his lawyer has argued for a sentence of eight years less time served.