It’s not enough.
That’s how Kathy Healy felt moments after hearing that the man behind the Staten Island ferry crash that killed her husband, John, had been sentenced to 18 months behind bars.
“I can go home today and tell my four children that the person responsible for their father’s death has been sentenced,” Healy said.
“Is it enough? It’s never going to be enough time,” she added before questioning the sincerity of Capt. Richard Smith’s apology to the 11 families who lost loved ones on Oct. 15, 2003.
“Was he heartfelt about what happened,” she wondered, “or because he was being sentenced?”
Vincent Ferrante Sr. said he was glad to see the sentencing judge disregard a Probation Department analysis that had recommended just three months’ prison time for Smith and six months for Patrick Ryan, the director of ferry services, who was sent away for a year and a day instead.
“I’m glad it was 18 months, but I would have liked to have seen more,” said Ferrante, whose son, Vincent Jr., was killed in the accident.
“I feel like the accident was last week,” he said. “Life hasn’t gotten any easier. People say it does get easier, but right now it doesn’t feel like that.”
Outside the Brooklyn federal courthouse, Jessica Bagarozza said the time Ryan and Smith would serve was nothing like what she and her daughter, Kristin, have had to face since the death of her husband, Joseph, a stockbroker.
“We’re dealing with a life sentence,” she said of all the holidays, special occasions and simple everyday moments robbed from her family.
Smith and Ryan declined comment as they were spirited away by lawyers.