Daughter speaks out against driver

The daughter of a man who died from being hit by a pickup Friday night said she wants the driver held responsible.

Debra Lisenbee-Wander said Tuesday that her father, John L. Lisenbee, deserved to live out his life. She wants to know why Kiel Adonis Ganoung, 79, was driving after he apparently had been drinking.

“Forty-eight years of marriage are gone,” she said, referring to her dead father and injured mother. “She may not walk again.”

Ganoung appeared in court Monday on a charge of vehicular assault. But that charge was filed before 73-year-old Lisenbee died Sunday morning. A prosecutor indicated that more charges are forthcoming against Ganoung, who remains in jail on a $100,000 bond.

According to witnesses and police, Ganoung was driving drunk when his Ford Ranger struck two couples who were walking to have dinner at the Wall Street Diner.

Diane Biotti, 18, was driving directly behind Ganoung’s truck. Biotti said she clearly saw Lisenbee, his wife, and the other couple before Ganoung’s truck slammed into them.

The impact left John Lisenbee in a coma and broke his wife’s leg and pelvis.

She remains in serious condition at a local hospital.

A third woman, who had not been identified, also suffered injuries and she remains in satisfactory condition. The other man was able to jump out of the way and was uninjured.

“Her prognosis is good,” Lisenbee-Wander said of her mother, “but we are not out of the woods yet.”

Lisenbee-Wander, 44, of Fredericksburg, Va., said she learned of the crash at 2 a.m. Saturday when she got a call saying her father was in a coma and dying and that her mother was in surgery.

She also responded Tuesday to comments made Monday by Ganoung’s daughter, Yvonne McCullough, who acknowledged that her father was drunk and was only three blocks from home at the time of the crash. McCullough offered apologies to the victims’ families.

“I hold no ill will to his family,” Lisenbee-Wander said. “They are not responsible for their father. I accept their heartfelt sympathy. But the bottom line is that justice has to be done.”

Lisenbee worked 20 years at Kaiser before operating his own furniture business, Les’s Upholstery and Fabric, for about 25 years, Lisenbee-Wander said. Her mother was a homemaker who raised three children.

Lisenbee-Wander said she feels cheated by the loss of her father. Her husband’s parents, who have been married for 54 years, are in their 80s and still travel.

“They still enjoy their great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. It’s a dream you always hope they will receive,” Lisenbee-Wander said.

“No one can live forever, but no one deserves to die from a heinous crime either.”

McCullough acknowledged that her family knew Ganoung had a drinking problem.

She said her father claimed he didn’t see the two couples in the street.

The Lisenbee family wants to wait for their mother to heal before they hold a memorial service for John Lisenbee, his daughter said.

“This is obvious vehicular manslaughter,” Lisenbee-Wander said. Ganoung “made the choice to drive home. He could have picked up the phone and called his family. He could have taken a taxi. This is not something that can be forgotten.”