Father whose son was killed by drunken driver faces 5th charge

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July 31, 2009

By Julie Manganis The Gloucester Daily Times Fri Jul 31, 2009, 05:50 AM EDT

MANCHESTER — No one could know more about the ultimate toll of drunken driving than Donald Ross.

In 1993, his son, 15-year-old Stephen Ross, was struck and killed by a drunken driver on Gloucester's Goose Cove Causeway.

Ross and his wife, Sandra, channeled their grief into efforts to prevent more tragedies like their own, lobbying for tougher drunken-driving laws and safety improvements to the area where their son died.

The law that lowered the legal limit for blood alcohol from .10 to .08 is named for their son, and four years ago they testified at the Statehouse in support of Melanie's Law, which stiffened drunken driving penalties and required ignition interlock systems be put in the cars of relicensed offenders with multiple convictions.

On Wednesday morning, Ross, 69, was arrested on a charge of drunken driving after a state trooper working a construction detail on Route 128 saw him weaving in and out of a work zone in Manchester.

Prosecutors say it's his fifth drunken-driving offense, and if convicted, Ross faces up to five years in state prison.

"I'm very grateful they got him off the road," said Ross' estranged wife, Sandra Ross. She said she was surprised to get a phone call from state police, telling her that Ross, who had been living in Beverly since their separation, had been arrested.

"This is just completely a shock to us," said Sandra Ross, who said she believed that her husband had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings recently.

Ross pleaded not guilty yesterday in Salem District Court to drunken driving and failing to stay within marked lanes and was ordered held without bail by Judge Robert Cornetta pending a hearing into whether he poses a danger if released.

Prosecutor Colleen Cashman said Ross has four prior drunken-driving convictions, dating back to the 1970s, though none since 1989.

According to state police, Trooper Anthony Vorias was on a detail shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday, following a line-painting truck along Route 128 in Manchester, when he noticed the black Ford Ranger pickup stopping in the left lane. The truck then started rolling again, signaling with its right blinker, as if to enter the right lane, which was closed.

As the pickup got closer to the painting truck, a worker looked back at the trooper and made a drinking gesture as he pointed to the pickup, Cashman said. The pickup continued on for another 50 yards at no more than 5 mph, veering in and out of the work area and eventually stopping on the median.

Vorias was met with an "overpowering" smell of alcohol when he approached the pickup's driver, and noticed that Ross had glassy, swollen and bloodshot eyes Cashman said.

Ross told the trooper that he was coming from the House of Mitch on Rogers Street in Gloucester, where he said he'd been drinking since 8:15 a.m.

He would later refuse a breath alcohol test as he became increasingly belligerent, the prosecutor said. Ross mentioned the death of his son.

"You try living where your son was killed," Ross allegedly told the trooper.

Ross also expressed anger at the trooper, blaming him for ruining his life, and later put his head in a toilet, telling the troopers he wanted to die.

Sandra Ross said her husband "has had a drinking problem for years," long before their son was killed.

Ross stopped drinking for three years after his son's death. The couple, who have two other children, promoted legislation to crack down on bars serving underage patrons — the driver who killed their son was 20 years old at the time, to lower the blood alcohol limit and, later, to toughen penalties for repeat offenders, including longer license suspensions and mandatory sentences.

They also worked with state Sen. Bruce Tarr to get funding for a walkway along the Washington Street, along Goose Cove, where Stephen was killed, creating a safe area for pedestrians.

All the while, Ross was himself struggling with alcohol. He usually did his drinking in private.

It led to their separation. "I couldn't do anything more for him," Sandra Ross said. "There's no way you can keep him from drinking."

She hoped AA would help him stop. "We were so hopeful," she said.

Then she got the call telling her her husband had been arrested. She is grateful, she said, that no one was hurt or killed.

Ross will be back in court on Aug. 6 for a dangerousness hearing.

Julie Manganis may be contacted at jmanganis@gloucestertimes.com.