This time of year will always be painful for Eileen Miller.
On July 5, 2010, her son Paul Miller Jr. was killed by a distracted tractor-trailer driver who crashed head-on into his car in Monroe County.
He was 21.
This year Paul's life is commemorated not just by those who knew and loved him, but by the highest officials in the state. Pennsylvania's new anti-distracted driving law, which his mother and others sought for so long, is named for the Scranton man.
Act 18 of 2024, or "Paul Miller's Law," was signed June 5 by Gov. Josh Shapiro.
"I find it to be like a full circle moment," Eileen Miller said Friday, reflecting on Paul's lifelong dream of becoming a police officer.
"Here I am, working with all these people that my son would be working with," Miller said, referencing her efforts as a road safety advocate.
"I work with the state police, with the people who came knocking on my door to tell me," Miller added, recalling the day troopers informed of her son's death.
"I work with our local police who, you know, Paul would be working with," she continued. "Sometimes I sit back, and I get little tingles on the back of my spine."
"Maybe God knew that I would be the one who would be pushing for this for everybody else to be safe," Miller added. "I don't know. But I know Paul would be proud of me."
'He always knew what he wanted to do'
A 2006 graduate of Scranton High School, Paul earned an associate degree in criminal justice from Lackawanna College two years later.
At the time of his death, he was a senior at East Stroudsburg University, where he was majoring in sociology. He was scheduled for an internship with the Lackawanna County juvenile probation department in Scranton, his mother said.
Paul was on track to receive his degree in sociology with a concentration in criminal justice, Miller said. ESU presented his family with a posthumous diploma after his death. It is framed and hanging in the family's home.
"Since he was five, whenever we saw a cop car, he wanted his picture taken with it," Miller said. "When he graduated eighth grade, in his yearbook, he wrote that he wanted to become a police officer."
Every year, Miller would give her children Christmas ornaments. Paul's were invariably police-themed.
"I have them in his memory room, and every Christmas I put them out," she said.
"I just kind of cry to think, you know, that's what he had always wanted," Miller said. "Some people never know their whole life, but right off the bat he always knew what he wanted to do."
The crash
On the morning of July 5, 2010 a New Jersey trucker, Jaswinder Singh, was driving southbound on Route 33 in Hamilton Township, Monroe County, when police say he lost control of his tractor-trailer and crossed the grassy center median.
The rig skidded into the northbound lanes, striking the Toyota Paul Miller was driving head-on. Miller was killed instantly. Several people in a van also were injured.
It took about two years of investigation before Singh was charged with vehicular homicide. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 2013 and was sentenced to prison.
Eileen Miller met with Singh when he was released after serving 17 months behind bars.
"He was really, really, remorseful. And when we started talking, you know, he told me that he was so saddened by what he did that he couldn't sleep," Miller said.
The pair prayed together. Miller said she forgave Singh, and encouraged him to make good decisions going forward for his own family, which included two little boys.
"I didn't cry in front of him, I was kind of empty. But when I left there, I realized he was human. He didn't intend to kill Paul that day," she said.
Continuing Paul's work
That visit also strengthened her resolve to keep fighting for stronger laws — a fight that she said will continue even now that the ban has been passed.
"He just always had these amazing things that he wanted to do. And I think now he's just doing them, but in a different place," Miller said. "You know, he's just doing it from above."
"That's when I was really like, 'I'm going to change this law.' I know the intent isn't there, but in today's world, everybody knows being on the phone (while driving), you could kill somebody," Miller said.
In addition to legal advocacy, Miller speaks to school and community groups. She shows them the photos of her son's mangled car, and she tells them how she stood over his body in the morgue and vowed to fight for stronger laws.
Miller is glad the new law is passed, but wishes the penalties were stronger — and would be enforced sooner — but remains grateful for the work of state Sen. Rosemary Brown, Gov. Josh Shapiro and others who made it a reality.
And her family worked to have scholarships awarded in Paul's name at Lackawanna College.
Miller feels her son would be proud of what she has accomplished, and that Paul's dream of public service lives on through her work.
"He just always had these amazing things that he wanted to do. And I think now he's just doing them, but in a different place," Miller said.
"You know, he's just doing it from above."
