On March 27, 2008, a 24-year-old state trooper had been savoring his dream job, having just completed his probationary period at the Avondale barracks, when his shift ended and he began his drive home.
Just two miles from the station, a woman transporting her 4-year-old son and a fifth of Grey Goose slammed head-on into Trooper Kenton E. Iwaniec’s vehicle; Kristina M. Quercetti had a blood-alcohol level more than four times the legal limit and oxycodone in her system. The recent graduate of the Police Academy died of his injuries several hours later; Quercetti is serving an 8 ½- to 17-year prison sentence.
Since that day, Iwaniec’s parents, Ken and Debby Iwaniec, have paid tribute to their son through a tireless campaign to spare other families from the unimaginable pain they have endured. They have traveled all over the state, addressing groups ranging from inmates to students, lobbied for tougher DUI laws, and donated hundreds of Breathalyzer kits to Pennsylvania police agencies.
Earlier this month, the state’s Office of Victims' Services presented Debby Iwaniec with a Governor’s Pathfinder Victim Survivor Activist Award, the most prestigious recognition that Pennsylvania gives to a victims’ services advocate or program. One individual or program is selected annually from a competitive slate of applicants from across the state, according to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency website.
Iwaniec was nominated by Fayette County, and the news of her recognition proved bittersweet for Peggy Gusz, executive director of the Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County. “Basically they beat us to it,” said Gusz, explaining that her agency had been gearing up for a 2017 nomination.
“We were planning to nominate the entire family,” said Gusz, adding that she fully understood that the nomination process specified an individual award.
“Exceptions can be made, and this situation certainly would have warranted one; this family acts as a single unit,” Gusz said, explaining that sisters Sashonna Zacour, Acacia Houck and Ashley Iwaniec have been involved in many different ways.
Undaunted by being unable to proceed with the nomination, Gusz and members of her agency hatched another plan: Chester County would stage its own surprise awards ceremony during the weekend of Aug. 27 when the Iwaniecs had planned a visit.
"The most important thing is that they received well-deserved recognition," Gusz said. "But we wanted to add to it because they've done so much around Chester County."
Gusz said that despite living southwest of Pittsburgh, the family returns to the area as many as half a dozen times a year. They regularly attend the Crime Victims’ Center’s annual Candlelight Vigil – a tribute to homicide victims. And they never miss the twice-yearly cleanups of the stretch of Route 41 where the accident occurred.
Although the cleanups began as a PennDOT initiative, they have become a cherished way for the Avondale barracks to remember Kenton Iwaniec, whose contagious enthusiasm for his new job quickly endeared him to his colleagues. Gusz said Debby Iwaniec always brings food, and the cleanup culminates in a celebratory picnic at the barracks.
Gusz said when the Iwaniecs come to Chester County, they typically schedule as many anti-drunk-driving presentations as they can, a routine that they followed this weekend.
“I suddenly realized that there was no time for our ceremony,” Gusz said. “It looks like we’re going to have to forget about surprising them and tell them in advance what we’re doing. Otherwise, we’ll never get the time.”
Gusz said she could understand the family’s desire to reach as many people as possible because she has witnessed the positive impact on audiences firsthand.
“Their presentations are so powerful,” Gusz said. “Each family member has a different perspective and a different way of describing their loss.”
Gusz said the listeners are often first-time DUI offenders who get to see how the choice to drive impaired can affect real people and how the officer who cited them gave them a second chance.
At the conclusion of many of the programs, the Iwaniecs present portable breath-testing units to members of law enforcement. To date, through a foundation they set up in tribute to their son, they have distributed more than 850 of the units, which cost about $600 apiece.
Gusz said on numerous occasions, veteran probation officers who have heard the presentation multiple times are reduced to tears – like most in the audience. For the Iwaniecs, "their grief is ripped open for everyone to see," but they also get to witness the good that comes out of it, Gusz said.
“One probation officer told me that she was determined that she wasn’t going to cry again, and it happened, anyway,” Gusz said. “She said she didn’t understand why it hit her so hard when she’s heard the program six times before.”
Gusz said she believes she understands why the pain intensifies. "It's one of the most moving, powerful, victim-impact presentations I've ever experienced," Gusz said. "When you first see it, you sympathize with the family's terrible loss. Then, over time, you get to know Kenton through the presentation, and it becomes your loss, too.”
For more information on the Iwaniec family's efforts to curb drunk-driving, visit http://www.trooperiwaniec.org/Kenton_Iwaniec/Welcome.html.
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