My 13-year-old daughter, Cari, was tragically killed by Clarence Busch, who was driving under the influence while out on bail for another hit-and-run drunk driving incident. Shockingly, despite having three prior drunk driving convictions in just four years, he still held a valid California driver’s license. In a horrific act, he struck Cari, throwing her 125 feet and leaving her in the road to die.
Cari Lightner was not just my daughter; she was an identical twin and my “oldest” child by four minutes. She was beautiful, outgoing, athletic, popular, compassionate, and funny!
Clarence Busch was prosecuted, but despite the fact that he killed a child, left the scene, and had numerous priors, he was only sentenced to two years, and only for vehicular manslaughter. He served his time in a work camp and halfway house, where he retained a partial driver’s license to commute to work and returned to driving on weekends. Just 18 months after the tragedy, he regained his full driver’s license, benefiting from the usual time off for good behavior. I firmly believe that without my efforts to establish Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), he would never have faced any consequences.
Cari will always live on, in my heart and the hearts of her family and friends and in the pages of history. But her death was not an accident. It was a violent crime! I will continue my activism to eliminate that word from impaired driving crashes through my work with We Save Lives.org.
Candace Lightner
Cari’s Mom