Four times the number of people killed on 9/11 are killed each year by impaired drivers, according to Jim Pasqualini, a representative of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

But his son and nephew aren’t just numbers, he said.

Pasqualini described the night an impaired driver hit his youngest son in Slippery Rock Township and a crash years later that killed his nephew, at a Law Enforcement Seminar hosted Wednesday, Sept. 17 by District Attorney Richard Goldinger, the Pennsylvania DUI Association and the IUP Institute for Rural Health and Safety at Butler Township Park.

“That’s my baby,” Pasqualini said as he showed photos and videos of his late son, Joe. “These aren’t numbers; these are human beings.”

He said Joe, his youngest son, was born in northern Virginia. Pasqualini’s family moved around a lot during his United States Army service, so Joe graduated high school in Vienna, Austria, after attending his junior and senior years there.

The family moved back to Virginia after Joe graduated. He planned to attend Northern Virginia Community College and enter the United States Air Force.

Pasqualini had bought his retirement home in Slippery Rock Township and visited the area with Joe and his other son, Ed, in January 2009 to see the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game at the former Heinz Field.

Pasqualini said Ed, 23 at the time, had recently returned from military service in the Republic of Korea and had not seen Joe in about two years. Joe was about six weeks away from his 21st birthday. He planned to see the Steelers game on Sunday with his father and brother then return to Washington, D.C., on Monday to attend former President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

The three went to Ginger Hill Tavern for dinner Saturday night and discussed where they would watch the game the next day. Pasqualini said the night was very cold with deep snow piled up.

He said his sons had been talking with the local college students while he paid the bill, and they decided to stay so Ed could have a drink.

Pasqualini said he suggested his sons take him home and bring the car back, but because Ed wanted to drink alcohol, so the boys told him they would walk the mile and a half up Centreville Pike to get home.

Pasqualini woke up to a phone call around 2 a.m. from Ed in hysterics. Ed told him they had been hit by a car while walking home.

Pasqualini said Ed couldn’t tell him where he was, but Pasqualini knew there was only one road between the tavern and their home. He told Ed he’d be there soon.

Pasqualini said Ed called him six more times before he left the house. He said Ed’s calls were just as hysterical each time as he couldn’t remember calling his dad after the impact. Pasqualini said he told his son he would be there soon but would not answer the next time he called since he was leaving the house. Ed still continued to call before he left.

Pasqualini said he stepped outside and could see police lights in the distance reflecting off the snow. He arrived at the scene and found state police had already shut the road down while Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company EMTs worked on his sons.

Pasqualini said he parked in the middle of the road and walked to the ambulance where Ed was sitting in the open side door with a large cut in his head and blood down his face.

“I saw Ed’s face, but everything behind him was a blur,” he said. “And of course, I remember every second of that night in great detail, but I didn’t see anything behind him in the same ambulance. I just saw his face.”

At the scene, Ed still didn’t remember he had called his dad and asked what he was doing here. Pasqualini, upon seeing Ed was at least conscious, asked about Joe, who he’d find out was in the back of the ambulance.

Pasqualini said he went to the open back doors and saw a stretcher with a pair of feet with no shoes on and an EMT performing CPR.

“And I knew the only reason why you do CPR is that person is dead, and that was my baby,” he said. “That was Joe. That second is when my life changed.”

Pasqualini said he stood there in shock for what felt like an eternity, but it was probably about 45 seconds. The EMTs asked who he was, and he finally said he was their dad.

The EMTs told Pasqualini his son would not live after being struck. It was Jan. 18, 2009.

Up the road, Pasqualini said he saw an officer performing what appeared to be standard field sobriety tests on a man. He asked police if that was the man who hit his sons.

“And they said, ‘We got this under control. You need to get to the hospital and be with your son when he dies,” Pasqualini said.

He found out later the man was the person who hit his boys as they were walking home along the side of the road. He was told the man was celebrating his recent graduation from Slippery Rock University.

The man who hit the boys thought he had hit a deer, Pasqualini said. He said the man had commuted from Butler to Slippery Rock each day for college, but like his sons, didn’t know where he was when police were called.

Ed had been knocked forward by the impact, but Joe was thrown over the windshield of the vehicle. Pasqualini said the back of Joe’s skull shattered the driver’s windshield, which is why the driver thought he had hit a deer. He said another driver also stopped and told the driver he had hit the brothers.

In the ambulance, the drive was slow to Butler Memorial Hospital due to the road conditions. A helicopter could not fly because of the weather, so Pasqualini said the ambulance stopped at the Butler airport and picked up their crash paramedics, who had more experience treating severe injuries.

At the hospital, Pasqualini sat with Ed while doctors worked on Joe. He said Ed asked him what he was doing in Korea, thinking he was back overseas due to his concussion.

“They kept telling me to come over and say goodbye to Joe, but he didn’t die,” Pasqualini said. “Minute after minute went by, and they couldn’t understand why he was still alive.”

The hospital wanted to transfer Joe to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, but no one could fly due to the conditions, so they went by ambulance.

Pasqualini asked staff what to do about his son, Ed, who thought he was in Korea, and was told he could leave him at Butler Memorial Hospital. So, he explained the situation to Ed, although Pasqualini knew he wouldn’t remember, and left with Joe.

“They had no expectations that he would be alive when we got to Pittsburgh,” Pasqualini said.

Allegheny General Hospital staff took an MRI and CT scans of Joe and found he had been skeletally decapitated. His skull had separated from his spine, along with his traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries.

“Again, they couldn’t understand it, but Joe didn’t die,” Pasqualini said. “He was at Allegheny General. He was in a coma, but for some reason, his body kept fighting.”

Pasqualini knew the Steelers had won the next day when they heard the fireworks from the hospital. On Super Bowl Sunday, Joe was transferred to Johns Hopkins Hospital the first day he could be flown.

Doctors there reattached Joe’s skull to his spine but said there wasn’t much more they could do for his brain injuries.

“They said don’t expect anything,” Pasqualini said.

When he woke up six weeks later after spending his 21st birthday in a coma, Pasqualini said doctors put a speaking valve on him. Joe knew who he was and who his dad was, but Joe thought he was 12 years old. He was completely surprised he had a beard when they put a mirror to his face, Pasqualini said.

Pasqualini said he joined Mothers Against Drunk Driving soon after the incident. He said their representatives always came to Joe’s court hearings to show their support and advocate for him.

After Joe’s procedure, Pasqualini retired early from his job with the Central Intelligence Agency to help care for his son along with part-time nursing help. He said the family incurred a lot of expenses after the procedure. Joe had seen the world in his teenage years and wanted to continue, so they bought a handicap-accessible RV.

The family also had to make modifications to their home such as installing a generator for Joe’s ventilator in case the power went out, paving the driveway for the wheelchair and RV, adding a wheelchair ramp to the home and making the first floor and bathroom easier to navigate with his wheelchair.

Joe was also back in Butler Memorial Hospital several times over the years due to complications from the crash.

“We got used to, unfortunately... his seizures, but he kept getting stronger,” Pasqualini said. “He actually started to get memories of high school.”

Pasqualini said Joe also regained some of his body control over the years and was able to move his hands and kick a ball. He had played soccer throughout Europe in high school.

“The parts of his brain that were dead were still dead,” Pasqualini said. “But somehow, his brain was figuring out a way to work around those areas.”

However, the dead parts of his brain are what caused the seizures. Pasqualini said at home one day, the part-time nurse came in his bedroom while he was having a seizure and said the seizure medication wasn’t working.

Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company transported Joe to Butler Memorial Hospital. He was then transported to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh.

Pasqualini said doctors at UPMC Presbyterian described his son’s affliction as his brain got stuck in one of the dead areas and couldn’t get past it. Doctors tried neurosurgery to stop the seizures, but Joe died Dec. 18, 2016. It was seven years and 11 months to the day he was hit.

Pasqualini said Joe had friends from as far as Europe visit when he got injured. The contact dissipated over time, but Joe’s funeral was packed, Pasqualini said.

Joe is buried in Jefferson Memorial Cemetery in Pittsburgh about 20 yards from his grandfather, Pasqualini said.

Five years later, Pasqualini’s nephew, Troy Faust, was killed by an impaired driver in North Carolina the day he bought his first home. Pasqualini said his 26-year-old nephew was driving home on his motorcycle at 11 a.m. after meeting for the house closing when he was run over Feb. 24, 2021. Pasqualini said he was killed instantly.

Pasqualini has been speaking to law enforcement and impaired drivers ordered to attend victim impact panels for more than 10 years. He said it would surprise the average person how the drivers attempt to justify their impaired driving.

“We’re not saying don’t drink. We’re saying drink responsibly,” Pasqualini said about the 45-year-old organization.