MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Inna Trakhtenberg said she hopes Florida legislators will pass a new law that is named after her 11-year-old son who was killed after a speeding driver ran a red light on Feb. 10 in Miami-Dade County.
Trakhtenberg said her son, Anthony Reznik, was on life support for about two weeks before he died. Amid her grief, she learned the driver was not going to be charged for her son’s death.
Trakhtenberg is hoping the new law will create tougher penalties for drivers who are involved in similar crashes. The driver struck her son as he crossed Sunny Isles Boulevard.
“This wound will never heal,” Trakhtenberg said. “As of now eight months passed and the pain is actually even more ... It hurts me to see how things, life is going on, and he’s not a part of it.”
If legislators pass the Anthony Reznik Act, the law will provide penalties when aggressive careless driving results in serious bodily injury or death and property damage.
“People get arrested right now for smoking a joint, but you can run over a kid, wipe out an entire family’s happiness, run a red light speeding, no lights, terrible driving record and get a red light ticket,” said Attorney Judd Rosen, about Reznik’s case.
Rep. Vance Aloupis filed SB 476: Aggressive Careless Driving in the Florida House. Sen. Jason Pizzo filed HB 297: Aggressive Careless Driving in the Florida Senate.
“It should concern all of us that somebody can run a red light that has been red for 20 seconds, obviously be speeding based upon the video we have seen, kill a little boy, and justice is not served,” Aloupis said.