Man accused of driving drunk and severely injuring mother on Sagtikos Parkway appears in court
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. -- A Long Island mother was nearly killed when an out-of-control car slammed into her on a Suffolk County parkway.
She had pulled over because she had a flat tire. The wreck severed her legs instantly.
Police say the man behind the wheel was driving drunk, and on Wednesday he appeared in court.
CBS2 spoke exclusively to the woman, who is struggling to come to grips with everything she has lost.
"I'm trying to move my foot. I'm trying to move my toes. I felt them but couldn't move them and then my mom came in," Daijonee Vanderveer said.
The 37-year-old mother from Rockville Centre said she felt delirious and confused when she came into consciousness in a hospital bed at Stony Brook.
Her mother was there to offer comfort.
"She hesitated and she didn't want to tell me and I said, 'Well, do I have my legs?' And she was like, 'Are you ready to hear that right now?' I'm like, 'Yes,' and she said, 'No,'" Vanderveer said.
Last November, she was alone in her car had pulled to the side of the Sagtikos Parkway due to a flat rear tire. She put on her hazards.
"Let me go check and see if I have a spare tire and that's the last I remember and then I wake up in the hospital," Vanderveer said.
Police say 25-year-old Kevin Rosasdaqui of Brooklyn was so drunk -- nearly three times the legal limit -- after leaving the Marine ball in Westbury, and was driving so fast, his car crushed Vanderveer's body and severed her legs instantly.
Good Samaritans -- an off-duty cop and his wife -- rescued her.
"The cop and his wife tourniquet-ed my legs and one of my arms. Because they were able to do that, I didn't bleed out," Vanderveer said.
CBS2 met Vanderveer and her only child, Evan, when she was released from hospital rehab. Her belongings, which include art and supplies, had just been dropped off.
"To this day, I haven't really mourned my legs because I am so grateful," she said.
Grateful to be alive to raise her son. She offered a message to the alleged drunk driver.
"I hope he understands the seriousness of what he did. He didn't kill me, but he killed parts of me," Vanderveer said. "A lot of things are hard."
Vanderveer's spirit of survival and passion include daily thoughts of the good Samaritans.
"It was like God sent his angels to help me. I'm just so appreciative. They didn't have to stop, but they did, and they saved my life and my son gets to still have his mother," she said.
She said her plan to take Evan to Japan for high school graduation in two years is a goal she is counting on.
Once the case is adjudicated with a trial or plea deal, and the good Samaritans are no longer needed as potential witnesses, Vanderveer said she will be thanking them in person.
Suspect Rosasdaqui is a Marine reservist and an EMT with the FDNY. His next court date is in April.
