Det. Kenneth Baribault gets pup who will become service dog 17 years after drunken driving crash on LIE left him partly paralyzed
Nearly 17 years after he was struck by a drunken driver on the Long Island Expressway, Nassau County Det. Kenneth Baribault is getting a different kind of backup — a 5-month-old Australian labradoodle named Lady, who will be his service dog and companion.
In May 2008, Baribault had pulled over an intoxicated driver on the LIE in Plainview and had returned to his patrol car on the shoulder of the highway when another drunken driver plowed into his car.
The crash left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak for about a year, his mother said. He continues to receive physical therapy weekly, supported by his family in St. James.
"It's been a long road," Baribault’s mother, Patricia Baribault, said. "He always progressed, but with the brain injury, the progression is very, very slow. I can remember the doctors telling me it's going to be a marathon, not a race, but you can't comprehend that into reality."
Baribault, now 46, first met Lady when she was about 8 weeks old. His family approached the breeder, Labradoodles of Long Island, who paired them with a Central Islip trainer, Canine Communications. Family members said it was an instant match.
An anonymous donor working with the Nassau Police Benevolent Association and police department offered to cover any expenses, including at his home. Lady will be trained to pick up items Baribault may drop while sitting in his wheelchair or alert family or aides when he needs assistance.
"All these groups came together to do what's right, to make sure that Kenny has the best life that he can have in the situation that he's dealing with," Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said at a news conference in Mineola on Wednesday.
The driver who hit Baribault, Rahiem Griffin, of Shirley, was returning from a night drinking with friends in the Bronx. He was convicted and was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
The crash "blasted into the rear of Kenny's car, and threw his vehicle 6 feet into the air," Ryder said.
The brain injury caused Baribault to develop aphasia, a neurological condition brought to the forefront by actor Bruce Willis when he was diagnosed with dementia.
Through years of rehabilitation and ongoing therapy, family members said he has regained some of his vocabulary and mobility. Baribault smiled and laughed during the news conference Wednesday.
"It took him a full year to utter a word, a sound, because the speech and language area of his brain was wiped out," Patricia Baribault said. "So it had to find another location in his brain to actually form words, and they didn't know if he would ever do that … But it did.
"We want him to achieve whatever he can. He's happy with the dog and it's going to really make him feel better daily in his everyday life. So that's all that I care about," she said.
"He understands everything that is being said to him, the spontaneous recollection of words and being able to convey back is where his hurdle is," his sister, Danielle Lanciotti, of Smithtown, said.
His son, Christopher, was 6 years old at the time of the crash, and didn’t see his father for a month until Father’s Day when he visited him in the hospital.
Christopher Baribault, now 23, said his father has always been his hero growing up. He is finishing school, studying cybersecurity at Sacred Heart University and said he may apply to join the Nassau police.
"This was a big event in my life and I was in shock," he said. "He has been an inspiration to me. Every day, I think of him as my role model. He’s what drives me to put my best foot forward, pursue myself to the fullest."
SARRA SOUNDS OFF: Dunia's comeback, Wyandanch hoops, more Newsday's Gregg Sarra hosts a new show covering the latest in high school sports on Long Island.
This is a modal window.
SARRA SOUNDS OFF: Dunia's comeback, Wyandanch hoops, more Newsday's Gregg Sarra hosts a new show covering the latest in high school sports on Long Island.