'It's in her honor.' LI mother who lost daughter to unlicensed driver continues fight for safer roads

"Angelica's Law" would increase penalties for drivers with suspended licenses but has stalled in the Assembly and the Senate for years.

Antoinette Biordi and Stephen Levine

Mar 7, 2023, 10:32 PM

Updated 636 days ago

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A Long Island mother whose daughter was killed by an unlicensed driver could finally see a law passed that would raise the penalty for driving with a suspended license.
It's been 15 years since Dawn Nappi's daughter, Angelica Nappi, was killed in an accident by a driver whose license was suspended seven times.
The driver ran a red light on Route 101 in Medford in February 2008 and crashed into the car the teenager was in.
"I was enraged, I was so angry because I said, 'Why is this man even on the road to begin with?'" Dawn Nappi says.
That frustration lasted well over a decade as she tried to get "Angelica's Law" passed in her daughter's memory.
The law would increase penalties for drivers with suspended licenses but has stalled in the Assembly and the Senate for years.
It is currently a misdemeanor for drivers pulled over with a suspended license up to 10 times, but Angela's Law would make it a felony to be pulled over with a suspended license after the fifth time.
"I want something done to make our roads safer, and this might be the only thing we can do," Nappi says.
Sen. Kevin Thomas reintroduced the bill last week in the Senate. He says it will now go to the Transportation Committee and he expects it will be sent to the floor of the Senate and Assembly for a vote by the end of the month.
"To all those mothers out there who had a loss because of these drivers, I am fighting for you, and I want to get this passed," Sen. Thomas says.
Nappi says she feels more confident that Angelica's Law will be passed now.
"Every day that I pursue this fight, it's in her honor and her memory because I want her life and death to always be remembered," Nappi says. "I don't want my daughter to have died in vain."