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St. Louis Auto Show

The Event
The St. Louis Auto Show took place at The Dome in St. Louis from 1/23 through 1/26 and MADD was there with victim tributes, information and an impaired crashed car display. A shout out and very special thank you to the St. Louis Auto Dealership for incorporating safety into their show this year. They graciously invited MADD to participate and we were glad to be able to honor some of our victims, and to give auto show participants information about impaired driving and MADD Missouri.
The Victims
Each of the victims we honor were tragically taken from their loved ones by an impaired driver that made a bad choice to drink alcohol and get behind the wheel of a car. The choice they made will forever impact the families of these victims. Each of our victims have a unique story, but each similar with the same devastating loss that will forever impact their loved ones.

Dr. Ricardo Moreno was on vacation in Florida with his daughter; she witnessed him being killed by an impaired driver.

Nicole Allen’s life ended too soon, she was only 21 when she was killed by an impaired driver.

Luke Maue was killed by an impaired driver while on an elementary school field trip at the St. Louis zoo, in front of his mother, teachers and classmates.

Jason Bitter was killed by a habitual impaired driver that had a blood alcohol count of .36.

Vi Nunn was a loving wife, mother and grandmother, whose life was taken by an impaired driver.
The Impact
On Friday 1/24/20 Victim Services Specialist, Connie Rigas was at the MADD Victim Tribute Exhibit and talked to many people. Most people stood looking silently at the exhibit and then slowly walked around the car and read each of the victim’s stories. Some had their hand on the mouths, shaking their heads, while others had tears in their eyes.  After they read the stories, most came up to the table to speak with Connie. Some of the comments Connie heard were- “wow” “oh my God” “just so sad” “people just don’t think” and “this really puts it into perspective.”

Connie believes the exhibit made a big impact on the participants. Thank you to The St. Louis Auto Dealership for the opportunity to be able to reach out to people, spread MADD’s message and most importantly to honor the victims of these unnecessary tragedies.