Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon teamed up this week with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the parents of a 12-year-old Boy Scout killed by a drunk driver in 2018 to prevent tragedy during one of the deadliest times of year for motorists.

This summer, Andrew McMorris would have been 17 years old.

But the bright-eyed child from Wading River was killed when he was 12 in 2018 after a drunk driver in an SUV plowed into his Boy Scout troop, which was hiking the Greenbelt Trail in Manorville.

“We don’t want what happened to us to happen to anyone else,” his father John McMorris said on Thursday, at a press conference with Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. and Mothers Against Drunk Driving to spotlight significantly increased, countywide DWI enforcement this summer.

A family who knows the pain of drinking and driving stood alongside officials as they made their announcement about patrols on Wednesday.

Alisa McMorris lost her 12-year-old son to a drunk driver in Manorville in 2018.

"Andrew was taken from this Earth too soon, and this is how we move forward, by trying to prevent someone else from going through something so horrible," McMorris says.

Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. was recently joined by the McMorris Family and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Regional Director Paige Carbone to announce a summer STOP DWI campaign, Operation HEAT, which aims to ramp up already increased efforts that include the highest number of DWI patrols and arrests in recent Sheriff’s Office history.

A Wading River family shattered by grief after their son, Andrew, 12, was killed by a drunk driver in 2018 while out on a hike with his Boy Scout troop, has worked tirelessly to create change so that no other family has to endure that agony. And now, they've teamed up with law enforcement and Mothers Against Drunk Driving to keep Long Island roadways safe this summer.

The family of Andrew McMorris, who was killed by a drunken driver, joined with Suffolk Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. as he announced stepped up DWI patrol. NewsdayTV's Cecilia Dowd reports.

FOX 5 NY's Jodi Goldberg has more on how one Long Island family hopes their heartbreaking story will save lives.

CBS News: Drunk and drugged driving is 100% preventable, say the parents of Boy Scout Andrew McMorris. Their son was killed by a driver who refused a sober ride home.Now, the family is partnering with a Long Island holiday summer drunk driving campaign that will begin with increased DWI patrols and checkpoints next Wednesday, July 4.

Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon recently joined roadway safety advocates, including the Andrew McMorris Foundation, to announce a summer campaign targeting drunk driving.

On the day that marked 1,591 long days since Alisa and John McMorris of Wading River lost their son, Andrew — Andrew was killed by a drunk driver while out hiking with his Boy Scout troop in Manorville in 2018 — the heartbroken parents traveled with others to Albany to advocate for lowering the legal blood alcohol limit in New York from .08 to .05.

On Saturday, March 25th the Suffolk County Council of Boy Scouts of America and the Andrew McMorris Foundation will host the Second Annual Andrew’s Top Gun Run to raise the funds for Scholarships and Scouterships.  

Alisa & Arianna McMorris represented MADD and AMF at a NYC Press Conference for a safer holiday, joining The New York City Police Department (NYPD), the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH).