Photo: Teen pleads not guilty after fatal Warwick crash
11:57 AM Fri, Nov 21, 2008 | Permalink
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Journal photo / Kathy Borchers Leaving the courtroom after his arraignment with his attorney William Murphy, is Graeme Kapko, the West Warwick teen who was indicted last month for the death of Louisa Avila. WARWICK -- A West Warwick teenager charged as an adult in a March car crash that killed a 46-year-old mother of two pleaded not guilty this morning during his arraignment in Kent County Superior Court. Graeme Kapko, 17, remains free on $50,000 personal recognizance bail. Kapko is being tried as an adult. He was charged with driving to endanger with death resulting, driving to endanger with personal injury resulting and possession of alcohol by a minor. Prosecutors said Kapko left a house party on Spencer Street, West Warwick, at about 10:30 p.m. on March 20 and drove another teenager to the Wendy's restaurant at Rhode Island Mall in Warwick. After eating, the teens drove south on Route 2, and Kapko's 2004 Volkswagen Jetta slammed into Luisa Avila's 1990 Toyota Camry as she tried to turn onto Quaker Way, near the Kent County Courthouse. Avila, who lived in West Warwick, was heading home from her job at the Amtrol manufacturing company when the accident happened at about 11:15 p.m. The police estimate Kapko was driving at about 85 mph. in a 45-mph. zone and found no skid marks indicating he hit the brakes before impact, prosecutors said. The police found about a dozen full Keystone beers and one empty beer can in the car along with a bottle of Southern Comfort. Kapko was not given a Breathalyzer test and has not been charged with driving while intoxicated, prosecutors said. The police had originally charged a West Warwick woman with violating the social-host law, a misdemeanor, for allegedly hosting the party that Kapko attended. That case was dismissed this summer. A pretrial conference has been scheduled for Jan. 13. -- With reports from Journal staff writer Talia Buford 
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Of course the charges against the woman for violating the social host law were dismissed. Why should there be consequences for her or anybody else for that matter, that's involved with this entire incident? Now that young Mr. Kapko and his attorney have gone before the Court and entered a Not Guilty plea, we can all just continue to ignore what goes on all around us. It seems the only people so far that have had no choice but to accept consequences are the family members and friends left behind after the death of Luis Avila. How about her two little girls ? They are VICTIMS here. That's what goes along with being the recipient of violence when you have no choice in the matter. Others make all the choices for both themselves and others that get targeted. Yet , when faced with accepting responsibility for their choices and behaviors, they say, no way, not me , I didn't do anything wrong. I dare you to prove otherwise. We can only hope that JUSTICE will prevail
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In RI drunk drivers get caught!! Then why no breathalyzer test??
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How did he get out of a breathalyzer test?
What a sham.
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Was not given the breathalizer? Wow, Rhode Island. You never cease to amaze me.
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I, too, would like to know why he was not given a breathalyzer test.
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