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State drops charge in fatal crash

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, December 19, 2007

By Maria Armental

Journal Staff Writer

The attorney general has decided not to pursue a felony case against a Westerly motorist who struck and killed a bicyclist in the breakdown lane of Route 1 in Charlestown last summer, saying the evidence did not justify prosecution.
That decision, announced last week, angered the family of the victim, Frank J. Cabral, 41, of 90 Sheffield St. in Warwick.
Cabral’s mother, Sandra, also of Warwick, asserted this week that prosecutors had not conducted a sufficient review before opting not to pursue the charge of driving to endanger, death resulting, against Pamela J. Hurst, 59, of 17 Danielle Ave. in Westerly. And she contended that prosecutors had already made up their minds before meeting with family members on Nov. 8 to discuss the case.
According to the Charlestown police, who initially brought the charge, Hurst was southbound on the highway at about 4 p.m. on Sept. 4 when the accident occurred. Driving at about 10 mph over the posted 50 mph speed limit, she passed two other vehicles, the police said.
“As she was merging back into the right travel lane, she got distracted and continued right into the breakdown lane,” Michael J. Healey, the attorney general’s spokesman, said last week, citing an accident reconstruction report.
She continued in the breakdown lane for about a second, traveling 100 feet before hitting the bicyclist, Healey said. Cabral was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hurst told the police she flipped down her sun visor moments before the collision, and investigators concluded that the sun’s glare could have been a factor. And there was no evidence of alcohol or drugs in her system, Healey said.
“The only evidence of negligence against Ms. Hurst is that she was traveling at 60 miles per hour and driving [for just over a second] in the breakdown lane,” Healey said. “We found that this, clearly, could not be considered ‘reckless conduct’ under Rhode Island case law.”
Sandra Cabral contends that the prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Jay Sullivan, had already decided to scrap the case in October.
“I feel this decision was made the day I called him in his office,” she said. “Because [when] he hung up, he said, ‘Please keep in mind that not all deaths are criminal.’ ”
Healey insists that the decision was not made until after the Nov. 8 meeting, in the Kent County Court House, with the Cabral family.
Reached for further comment Monday, Healey said, “We understand and appreciate that Frank Cabral’s death had devastated his loved ones and that they are angry because they’re hurt and trying to process very painful information. The Charlestown police are angry because they didn’t get the criminal case they were hoping for.
“Everybody’s emotions are understandable, but emotion cannot, and does not, drive our approach,” Healey said. “We looked at all the facts and evidence, applied the law, and made the right decision.”
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