Decisions determine destiny, Matt Maher told students as he awaited sentencing for aggravated manslaughter in 2009.
Cape May County’s rising soccer star from the Ocean City Barons youth system, who earned a soccer scholarship to Temple University and played professional soccer with the Philadelphia KIXX ended the life of Hort Kap and a promising career on March 7, 2009.
Maher was traveling at a high rate of speed east on the Atlantic City Expressway when his sport utility vehicle crashed into Kap’s minivan. Kap was partially ejected from his vehicle and was declared dead at the scene.
Maher used his time between arraignment and sentencing to address local high school students about the consequences of their decisions and the importance of thinking though their decisions.
Maher, 26, was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison under a plea agreement.
According to the Star Ledger, Maher wants to continue to warn students about the consequences of bad decisions while in prison. The South Jersey Traffic Safety Alliance is urging the New Jersey Department of Corrections to allow Maher to take part in its Project P.R.I.D.E (Promoting Responsibility in Drug Education) program while his compelling story and impact are still fresh, the report said.
But under rules of the program, which allows minimum-custody offenders to warn of their experiences with drugs and alcohol to students, Maher will not be eligible to speak until he has 24 months left of his minimum sentence – which would be in August, 2012.
Maher hopes somehow the authorities will reconsider.
You can learn more about Maher and his story here themattmaherstory.com
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