Woman killed in practical joke that turns tragic

Boston Globe ^ | March 7, 2005

[billorites]

COVENTRY, Vt. --A 21-year-old Newport woman was run over and killed when a practical joke turned tragic on U.S. Route 5, police said.

Ashley Lewis was pronounced dead at North Country Hospital in Newport early Sunday, said state police Sgt. Kevin Charboneau.

Keith Gingue, 21, of Johnson, was charged with drunken driving following the incident.

Charboneau said Lewis was driving on Route 5 with three friends at about 1 a.m. Sunday when she stopped at a large pull-off area about a mile south of Airport Road so the women could relieve themselves.

Police said Lewis and Aimee Hopkins, 21, of Lyndonville, got out of the vehicle and left Gingue and another man in the vehicle.

While the women were relieving themselves, Gingue got into the driver's seat and pulled the car ahead about 25 feet, running over Lewis, Charboneau said.

"He didn't know the girl was squatting in front of the vehicle," Charboneau said.

Lewis suffered massive internal injuries. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

[The_Victor]

More proof that the phrase "drunken idiot" is redundant.

[Jaysun]

What a sad, tragic, freak story.

[billorites]

Add to the list of reasons not to drink or ride with people who have been drinking.

[camle]

i guess it never occurred to them to go to a garage or restaurant and use a real bathroom.

[zarf]

It's amazing any of us survive the idiocies of youth.

[dead]

Rough price to pay for a relatively minor dumb drunken moment.

If the stupidity-to-death grading curve were applied, with this as a baseline, I'd be responsible for the deaths of thousands.

[nuconvert]

I'm not getting the practical joke part........

[thoughtomator]

The practical joke was to move the car so they'd think they were lost when they came back from relieving themselves. File this under "not funny".

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

"I'm not getting the practical joke part........"

I believe the moving of the car was the practical joke.

[Khepera]

me either... what was the joke?

[Khepera]

me either... what was the joke?

[WestTexasWend]

"hold muh bladder..."

[DannyTN]

"I'm not getting the practical joke part........

took me a while too... pulling the car away while they were out of the car was supposed to be the joke.

[DM1]

Was the Driver a politician from Mass by any chance?

[thag]

Darwin award candidate?

[dead]

"Let's pretend we're leaving the girls here!"

It's not exactly "Aristophanes" as far as comedy goes, but he was going for a drunk giggle.

[thag]

A real pi$$er....

[nuconvert]

Oh....thanx

[sierrahome]

It was by God's Grace that I survived my late teens and early 20's...My 1970 Opel Kadette and I made the front page of the paper as I flipped end over end and side over side. You don't have to drink and drive to be an idiot--driving 90 MPH on country roads while fumbling with 8 track tapes was my downfall.