Alcoholics Anonymous Reviews

Attention focused on Barrington in 2007 as the affluent suburb withstood a series of tragedies that authorities attribute at least in part to teen drinking and driving.

But Barrington was not alone. According to a list produced by the attorney general’s office last week, communities from Glocester to Bristol dealt with fatal crashes involving young people over the past two years.

In all, 13 teenagers and 4 people in their early 20s died in car crashes in Rhode Island in 2007. The year before that, 7 teenagers and 10 people in their early 20s died in car crashes. And alcohol was a factor in half of those cases, according to Assistant Attorney General Jay Sullivan, the state’s traffic-safety resource prosecutor.

“We’ve had some horribly tragic circumstances, repeatedly, in and around the Barrington area in a very short time frame,” Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said. “However, when you take a step back, the reality is this isn’t a problem just for Barrington. This is a problem that every community should be concerned about because it has affected virtually every community.”

Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. said, “I see the problem statewide. I think Barrington is tackling the problem more seriously than anyone else.”

In 2007, the focus on Barrington began in July when Patrick Murphy, 17, died on the Barrington River after being struck by a boat driven by another Barrington teen, Ryan Greenberg, who has since been charged with second-degree murder and underage possession of alcohol. Murphy’s death is not included in the year-end tally of fatal car crashes, but it is similar to those cases, Lynch said. “The vehicle happens to be a boat,” he said.

In November, Jonathan Converse, 16, of Barrington, was killed in a car crash, and the teen driver, Michael J. Silveira, is now serving a two-year sentence in the state Training School for driving under the influence with death resulting.

In December, another Barrington teenager was charged with eluding police in Bristol’s Colt State Park and nearly killing a pedestrian when his car slammed into a stone wall. He was charged with driving while impaired.

Lynch said Barrington, a town of fewer than 17,000 people, has seen a “terrible uptick of horrible tragedies,” including the 2005 crash that killed teenagers Zachary Stiness and Michael Neubauer.

“We all got caught up in Barrington,” Lynch said. “But when you look back statistically, it’s a problem we all have to be concerned about, in every county, every city, every town.”

In 2007, teens died in crashes in Barrington, Bristol, Glocester, Lincoln, Little Compton, Providence2, South Kingstown, Tiverton, Warwick and West Warwick, and people in their early 20s died in Barrington, Coventry and Warwick.

In 2006, teens died in crashes in Johnston, Lincoln, Pawtucket, Smithfield and South Kingstown, and people in their early 20s died in Cranston, North Providence, North Smithfield, Pawtucket, Smithfield, South Kingstown, Warwick and Woonsocket.

Nationwide, car accidents of all types are the leading cause of death for people under 25, Sullivan said.

He said that while some of the Rhode Island crashes over the last two years were linked to speed, inexperience or other factors, half of them involved alcohol.

For example, a 16-year-old Warren girl, Kayleigh A. Raposa, died in February 2007 when the car in which she was riding hit a utility pole in Bristol. The driver, Julie E. Alfano, 17, of Warren, is now serving a one-year sentence at the Training School for driving under the influence with death resulting. Prosecutors have said Alfano had been drinking shots of Bacardi and Gatorade and was driving more than twice the speed limit when she crashed.

Also, two Glocester teens, Dylan Wood and Lucas Warner, died in July 2007 when an SUV left Snake Hill Road in Glocester, slammed into trees and burst into flames. The police have said excessive speed was one factor in the crash, and Sullivan said the attorney general’s office considers it an alcohol-related crash.

The attorney general’s list included victims in their early 20s because, Sullivan said, “the first five years of driving is when you get more than 25 percent of the fatalities while driving.”

For example, three young men died in Woonsocket in October 2006 when a white Cadillac barreled through an intersection and through a wrought-iron fence before traveling some 60 feet in the air and slamming into a tree. The sole survivor, Patrick G. Coyle, 21, of Woonsocket, has been charged with driving to endanger with death resulting, and driving under the influence with death resulting. The crash killed Travis Thifault, 20, and brothers Steven Vasquez, 21, and Victor Vasquez, 24.

Also, a 21-year-old Lincoln man, Christopher P. Baptista, was killed when a car he was in fled from the police in North Providence and ended up slamming into a stone wall at Esmond Park in Smithfield. The driver, Anderson J. Ramos, 19, of Pawtucket, at first claimed Baptista was driving, but Ramos was later sentenced to eight years in prison for driving under the influence with death resulting.

The attorney general’s list includes just one crash in Providence, which is by far the state’s biggest city, with a population of more than 173,000. Lynch said young people might have greater access to vehicles in the suburbs. “I’m not suggesting kids don’t have bad judgment in Providence,” he said. “They may use different means.”

In recent years, Rhode Island has often had the highest percentage of alcohol-related fatalities in the nation, a distinction that has embarrassed state officials and rallied anti-drunken driving advocates.

Sullivan said the overall number of highway deaths in Rhode Island is falling. While 103 people died on the roads in 2003, 81 died in 2006 and about 70 died last year, he said, explaining that 2007 figures are not official yet.

Lynch said the state is making progress. But, he said, “We’ve had an abysmal couple of years as it pertains to youth tragedies involving alcohol and/or drugs in the suburbs.”

Lynch said a “dangerous cocktail” results when drugs and alcohol mix with the sense of invincibility and recklessness that can come with youth. Some see it as an age-old problem that you can’t do much about, but, he said, “the point is we can’t give up and we can’t dismiss it. If it’s a ritual, if it’s a passage, well, too many people are not surviving that.”

Lynch said the legislature, his office, the police, courts, schools and churches have taken steps to address the problem. “We need a continuing dialogue through whatever means available to remind kids and young adults that we care for them, that we want them to have successful lives, but that a lot of that falls on their decision-making ability,” he said.

Jeremiah said he thinks drug and alcohol abuse by teens is getting worse. “There’s been a change in attitudes,” he said. “Children are trying to grow up a lot faster.”

Jeremiah said parents need to take greater responsibility. He noted a Barrington couple was recently charged with illegally serving alcohol to minors during a New Year’s Eve party at their home. Gabriel A. Pacheco, 48, and Mary Lou Pacheco, 45, were charged under the social-host law, which is designed to make adults responsible for underage drinking that takes place in their presence.

Lynch said he usually shields his children, who are ages 12 and 10, from the cases that his office handles. But when the 16-year-old Converse died in Barrington in November, he took his daughter and son to the crash site on New Meadow Road and talked to them about alcohol and making the right decisions.

“I took them there because I realize they are going to be out at some point in years ahead with kids and they may feel invincible,” Lynch said. “But I hope they have a stark reminder to, first, just say no, but in any event, to reach out and call me.”

The Providence Journal