The family of Shemaiah Grant, who was killed in a collision in West Bay in 2021, and advocates in the United States have welcomed the passage of a bill that can be used to force drivers whose reckless actions lead to the death of a parent to financially support the children left behind.
Grant, 31, was killed when his motorcycle was struck by a car driven by a man who was texting on his mobile phone at the time. The driver, Jordan Telford, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, and was sentenced to four years and seven months in prison last year.
Telford was driving without car insurance and was unemployed at the time, so the court did not impose an order to pay hospital bills and other expenses. As a result, the family received no financial assistance with raising Grant’s four children, an issue they have campaigned on ever since his death.
At Parliament’s session on Monday, 16 Dec., legislators agreed to an amendment to the Children Act that will empower courts to issue an order to drivers found to be responsible for the death of a parent or guardian to pay child support for the deceased’s children. This will be known as the Shemaiah Grant Order.
Shemaiah’s sister, Leah Grant, told the Compass the family was glad legislators had come through for those who will suffer financial hardships due to the death of a parent at the hands of a dangerous driver.
She said she and her family had been contacting MPs in West Bay and government ministers since 2021 to try to get the law changed.
The family had researched such laws, or efforts to pass them, in other countries and came across ‘Ethan’s, Hailey’s and Bentley’s Law’ in Tennessee, which states that if a driver is responsible for the death of a child’s parent or guardian due to a DUI, that person will have to pay child support to the victim’s children.
“[That law] covers drunk driving,” Leah said, “but I wanted it to cover not only drunk driving, but negligence – speeding, texting while driving, driving without insurance and so forth, choices that you’ve made that are illegal.”
The criminal acts covered in the new amendment are:
- causing death by dangerous or reckless driving
- causing death by careless driving or inconsiderate driving
- causing death by driving where the driver is unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured
- causing death by driving or being in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
It was initially thought that the provisions might be included in a Traffic Act amendment in Cayman, but after discussions with her local MP André Ebanks and Deputy Premier Kenneth Bryan, it was determined that the most appropriate place was in the Children Act.
Both Bryan and Ebanks addressed the amendments in the House on Monday.
Added deterrent to impaired driving
Shemaiah’s mother, Cherry Chin, told the Compass she hopes the new legislation will act as a deterrent for those who take the risk of driving while impaired.
“Every road user will know that if they get behind a wheel while drunk or on drugs, they can face personal liability,” she said.
She added that choosing to drive without insurance is also an act of negligence to which the new legislation will apply.
While acknowledging that “accidents do happen,” there should be ramifications for drivers who “wilfully drink and drive, wilfully don’t have insurance”, Chin said, even after they serve a prison term, if they have taken someone’s life by their actions.
She described the new legislation as an “extra tool” for the courts to use in such cases as part of the sentencing process.
Cayman’s increasingly busy roads and the rising number of collisions make the new law even more relevant, she added.
Support from the US
In their efforts to get the law in place, the Grant family connected with Cecilia Williams, a Missouri grandmother who is the driving force behind the new legislation being introduced in the US, as well as with Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.
Williams said she had read a Cayman Compass report about the family’s efforts following Shemaiah’s death, and reached out to them.
She lost her 30-year-old son, 25-year-old daughter-in-law and 4-month-old grandson in a crash in April 2021, the month before Shemaiah Grant was killed. Following those deaths, she helped draft the legislation, which now has been passed in six US states, with a similar law also being enacted in South Korea. More than 20 other states are expected to draw up similar bills next year.
The Bentley in ‘Ethan’s, Hailey’s and Bentley’s Law’ is one of Williams’ two surviving grandsons. Ethan and Hailey are the two children of Nicholas Galinger, a Tennessee police officer killed by a drink driver in a hit-and-run.
Williams told the Compass that when she started advocating for the legislation in her home state of Missouri, her intention had been for it to be nationwide – and now it looks like there is international momentum, having passed in the Cayman Islands and also in South Korea.
“The Grant family have been a blessing. … They have fought so hard for this bill in the Cayman Islands. It’s amazing, the drive that they have,” she said. “I hate the way that I had to meet them because we all suffered a tragedy, but I’m grateful that I met them.”
She noted that having this type of legislation means that families will not have to go through the extra efforts and costs of filing civil suits against drivers, pointing out, “Sometimes these people don’t have insurance, so there’s literally nothing to sue.”
“With Bentley’s Law, you can go after them and have their wages garnished,” she said. “It’s not going to cost you a ton of money out of your pocket to hire an attorney to go after a civil suit, only to find out there is nothing there.”
Williams said including such provisions in child support legislation means that mechanisms are already in place for payment and enforcement of maintenance payments.
In the US states where the bill has passed, there has been bipartisan support – something, Williams believes, means it will eventually be accepted nationwide.
“It’s a hard emotion to explain, because I never, ever created this bill to benefit my family. … I created this for other families, for other future victims, and to help prevent so many of these drunk-driving crashes that are so preventable in the first place,” she said.
The Grants were also supported by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, known as MADD, an advocacy group in the United States.
Frank Harris, director of state government affairs at MADD, told the Compass he had been incredibly impressed by the tireless efforts of the Grant family and the speed at which the Cayman Islands lawmakers had passed the bill.
“This is very encouraging that other jurisdictions are taking this up,” he said, adding that MADD has been pushing to have such legislation introduced across America.
‘It’s a totally grassroots movement,” which is being pushed by surviving family members of victims of impaired drivers, he said.
“The Grant family should be applauded for what they are doing in memory of their son,” he added.
Fighting for other families
Because legislation cannot be applied retroactively, the amended law in Cayman will not benefit Shemaiah Grant’s children. Leah Grant says the family had never expected the new law to help them, “but we didn’t want other families to go through what we went through”.
She added, “My brother was always looking out for young Caymanians, always trying to make sure everyone was OK … We figured since we lost him to such negligence, we wanted to push this in his name.”
Leah noted that her brother had made an impact on Cayman society as a child. He and his parents were credited with getting the Rastafarian religion officially recognised in the Cayman Islands in 2001, after winning a five-year legal battle with the Education Council.
The council was forced to re-enrol Grant in Sir John A. Cumber Primary School in 2001 at age 10 after he had been expelled in 1996 because his father refused to allow his hair to be cut.
“I’m happy my brother’s legacy is continuing,” said Leah. “Not only was he making waves while he was alive, he’s making waves after passing, for this country.”
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