Trucker sentenced in trooper's Thruway death

PHOTOGRAPHER: Marc Schultz

Canadian truck driver Gary R. Blakley, right, and his attorney William Martuscello listen while Amy Cunniff, wife of NYS Trooper David Cunniff, gives a victim's impact statement in Montgomery County Court, Sept. 1, 2015.

Trooper David Cunniff’s widow described him as “her rock” while speaking this morning at the sentencing of the Canadian truck driver who caused his death.

“I share this because there’s no way to tell how this loss has impacted our family,” Amy Cunniff told the court, her voice breaking with emotion. “I have tried to create a new normal for the boys and me, but no matter what we do, Dave’s absence is painfully felt.”

The driver of the truck, 68-year-old Gary Blakley, was sentenced to three years, six months in state prison.

Blakley’s truck slammed into Cunniff’s trooper car off the Thruway at Amsterdam Dec. 16, 2013, causing the trooper’s death. He was over his allotted hours and essentially asleep at the wheel when he drove into Cunniff’s patrol car and a second car, according to authorities. The second driver survived.

Blakley was indicted earlier this year and later pleaded guilty to aggravated criminally negligent homicide.

Blakley sat with his attorney William Martuscello throughout the Amy Cunniff’s victim-impact statement, appearing emotional himself. His arm shook as he wiped his eyes at points. Martuscello told of his client being remorseful. He has continually seen a psychiatrist since the crash, suffering severe anxiety because of it, the lawyer said.

Blakley gave his own brief statement, but it was largely unintelligible through his outward emotion. Outside the courtroom, a woman describing herself as a second daughter to Blakley said Blakley has been a different person since the accident.

“It’s so sad that they lost a husband and a father,” the woman, Carlie Beach, of Canada, said, “and we’re so sorry that this accident happened. Gary’s such a good man.”

In court, much of the gallery was filled with family and friends of Cunniff, including several troopers in uniform. Beach and two other women were there for Blakley.

Montgomery County District Attorney Jed Conboy told Judge Felix Catena that the crash could have easily been avoided. Blakley was headed east through Montgomery County and was minutes over his 14-hour limit for driving. He passed earlier chances to stop for the night and continued driving. He stressed the importance of those rules by noting that Cunniff’s trooper car that hardly had a spot that wasn’t distorted by the crash. Blakley’s 47,500-pound rig was almost undamaged.

“This entire incident never should have happened,” Conboy said. “It didn’t have to happen if Mr. Blakley had been compliant with the rules that applied to him.”

Trooper Cunniff , 35, of Princetown, was the father of Caleb and Zachary, 6 and 4 at the time of the crash. Cunniff and his wife of 14 years, Amy, were high school sweethearts. The Cunniffs worked tirelessly to raise money to find a cure for spinal muscular atrophy, a disease that afflicts Caleb and requires him to use a wheelchair.

She recounted portions that story in her statement this morning. Regarding Blakley, Amy Cunniff said she accepted that Blakley was remorseful. She noted that he returned to face the charges and accepted responsibility. That, she said, has given her and her family a “great measure of peace.”

When her boys get old enough, she said, she will tell them that Blakley “did what was right.”

“I will forever wish you made different choices that night,” Amy Cunniff told him, speaking from the witness stand. “Every day when I wake up I choose again not to be angry. I do this because it is what Dave would want me to do and it is what I want to model for my boys.”

Amy Cunniff also asked Blakley to do three things: She wanted him to remember her husband as she described him. She wanted Blakley to use whatever influence he had to share his story as a cautionary tale for other truck drivers. She also said that she wants Blakley to be able to forgive himself.

“I know this tragedy will forever impact both of our lives and the pain will never totally go away,” she said, “but I refuse to let it define Dave’s life or define me and our boys. “I hope that you can do the same.”