The owner of a New Jersey gym that continues to defy the state’s coronavirus lockdown order came clean Wednesday about a fatal drunk driving crash he pleaded guilty to 13 years ago.
Ian Smith, co-owner of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, said in an Instagram mea culpa that “there is justifiably a great deal of hatred ” toward him for a 2007 crash that killed 19-year-old Kevin Ade — which has been gaining new attention online since news of Smith’s gym’s anti-lockdown stance started spreading.
“Over the past few days there has been a lot of posting about a tragedy that I was the cause of,” Smith said. “And there is justifiably a great deal of hatred and resentment towards me. This is something I’ve been public about my whole life.”
“I never run from it nor would I ever,” he said. “It’s something that I fully accept responsibility for, and for anybody out there who hates me, I think you are completely justified in doing so.”
Smith, a student at Stockton University at the time, said he awoke from a night of heavy drinking and got behind the wheel without realizing there was still alcohol in his system.
“Being a 20-year-old kid nobody, nobody ever explained those dangers,” he said. “It was always, ‘don’t drink and drive,’ and we didn’t drink and drive. I made it a point not to. And it doesn’t matter, because the end result was the same.”
Smith raced through a stop sign in Galloway Township and hit a car Ade was driving, killing the teenager, according to nj.com.
He pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, the outlet reported.
“That being said, what we started here in Atilis and what we stand for has very little to do with me as an individual,” he added.
Ade’s family, some of whom hoped Smith would turn his life around, took offense at his open defiance of the state lockdown law.
“It shows he has no regard for the law,” Robert Henchy, the teen’s uncle, told nj.com. “He drove drunk, killed somebody, gets probably one of the lightest sentences I’ve ever seen. And now, 13 years later, you’re out defying the law again. I just don’t get it.”
Smith and his partner, Frank Trumbetti, opened their gym for business for the third straight day Wednesday despite a shutdown order from Gov. Phil Murphy. The two contend they’re taking a stand for small businesses who are being crippled by the continued lockdown.
“I mean, Gov. Murphy said the other day that he’s not comfortable opening up the state of New Jersey until there’s a vaccine,” their lawyer, James Mermigis, told The Post Wednesday. “That could be months. That could be next spring. He’s taking a stand in what he believes in, and I commend him.”
The gym owners were cited for violating the order on Monday and Tuesday, and the police even handcuffed a customer.
Mermigis said Atilis opened for business again on Wednesday, and this time were allowed to remain open — although prosecutors told Mermigis that the summonses would be sent by mail. He said the fines can be up to $2,000 for each infraction.
Mermigis would not comment on Smith’s past drunk driving case because he said he was not involved in that case.