Posted on 05/22/2010 12:47:40 PM PDT by raccoonradio
ONSET -- She eluded police for more than a day, but officers -- with the help of a police dog -- captured 18-year-old Gina Giovangelo near a wooded area this afternoon.
Giovangelo is facing motor vehicle homicide charges after she allegedly failed to stop after striking Lillian White, 47, Tuesday night in Hyannis. White, who was in a wheelchair when she was hit, died several hours later.
The police arrested Giovangelo, who lives at 73 Vandermint Lane, after they questioned her Thursday evening — two nights after the crash. She was released on $10,000 cash bail and ordered to appear in Barnstable District Court Friday morning for her arraignment.
But shortly after she entered court yesterday morning, Giovangelo left to go outside to have a cigarette and never returned.
Barnstable District Court Judge Don Carpenter issued a warrant for her arrest.
Police canvassed the Cape for more than a day, chasing a number of leads from people who reported seeing her.
A woman who lives in the Fairway Drive and Roberta Drive in Onset said she saw police capture Giovangelo this afternoon.
"She was alone at the time," said the woman, who asked not to be named. "They got her by using a police dog and chasing her in the woods."
Investigators had identified Giovangelo's vehicle, a 2007 Nissan Altima, through surveillance footage at the Holly Tree Resort Hotel on Route 28 in West Yarmouth, where she had been seen before and after the crash, according to a police report.
And several acquaintances, including at least one who described herself as a passenger in the vehicle, identified Giovangelo as the driver, Barnstable police Detective Sgt. John F. Murphy wrote in the report.
Giovangelo, who faces charges of motor-vehicle homicide as well as leaving the scene of an accident, will be arraigned on the homicide charges when she is found and taken into custody, Assistant District Attorney Brian Glenny said.
The amount of bail prosecutors seek will depend on the circumstances of her flight. The motor-vehicle homicide charge is punishable by up to 30 years in jail, a $3,000 fine and a 10-year driver's license revocation, according to court documents.
Giovangelo, who had her license suspended last month, was on probation at the time of her arrest stemming from a larceny charge, according to court records. In the larceny case, she was put on one year's probation and required to spend 30 days at the Emerson House, a drug treatment facility for women in Falmouth.
The larceny charge stemmed from a January incident in which police allegedly found Giovangelo and two other women stole more than $740 worth of jewelry from the Plum Porch, a Marstons Mills gift shop.
Some friends picked her up and they tried to buy a car (Mercedes SUV, $6,000). She cleaned out her bank account.
They balked at doing a test drive and having one friend’s
driver’s license xeroxed...
from yesterday’s Boston Herald:
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1256457
A woman fitting Giovangelo’s description arrived at AutoSmart on Route 28 in Hyannis in the late morning or early afternoon, said Darrell Fietz, owner of AutoSmart LLC on Route 28 in Hyannis.
A blonde woman in her 20s was driving the car and there was a man, also in his 20s, in the front passenger seat, he said. A woman fitting Giovangelo’s description was sitting in the backseat. She had on gray sweatpants, a pink hoodie, and big sunglasses, with “that hood pulled over so you couldn’t see her face,” Fietz said. Giovangelo arrived at court earlier in the day wearing a pink hoodie and gray sweatpants.
The woman in the pink hoodie got out of the car and was looking at a silver 1999 Mercedes ML 320 SUV, Fietz said. The man approached Fietz and offered to pay $6,000 cash for the car.
He “basically said, ‘I’ve got cash, we need a car now,’ ” Fietz said. He “did all the talking. She didn’t want to have any contact with us.”
The man didn’t want to test-drive the car, and balked at the idea of an AutoSmart employee making a copy of his driver’s license, Fietz said. A short time later the man told Fietz they would return later to get the car. The pair got back into the Accord and drove away.
Any chance they will have prison jumpsuits in that color?
But how much time will she serve, anyway? After all, this
is Massachusetts. We’re stupid.
Yeah... Guilty in Pink!
No bail. No parole. No time off. Game over, honey.
That’s what should happen but again we’re talking Massachusetts here. Then again, she isn’t a Kennedy as far as I know so maybe they will throw the book at her?
Looked up where she was found...near a golf course (hence
“Fairway Drive”), NW of Buzzard’s Bay.
Pink hoodies, the fashion statement for the chic young
criminal teen.
Is the driver related to the Kennedy’s?
There is one good shot at avoiding a leaving the scene of an accident charge, and it’s a good one to know.
Some people in an accident will just instinctively flee a scene, despite knowing better.
But at this point, out of harm’s way, they will once again come to their senses and realize they left the scene of an accident. This is where good judgment can save the day, because there is a second choice.
Bad judgment will be that “Hopefully nobody saw me, and I just won’t say anything, and it will go away.”
But good judgment is to immediately call the police and report the accident. Then, when they ask why you left the scene, you can tell them half-truthfully that you felt in danger for your life had you remained there. The “bad neighborhood” defense.
The truth is that the fear response by itself makes a poor defense, but if justified by a situation, most people may accept it as an excuse.
That is, “I was in an accident, and was terrified, and had to get away”, while true and accurate, is less sympathetic than, “I was scared that the people there might attack me (for any or no reason).”
But this can only work if you are still relatively near the scene, not having driven all the way home. Or optimally, to the nearest police station.
Having a cell phone makes a prompt emergency call even more important, because you can ask the police where you should go, and they will be far more sympathetic to you if you are asking them to give you orders and you immediately carry them out.
The bottom line is that the whole thing is weird, having to go through an odd ritual because the legitimate reality isn’t persuasive enough. In any event, the next call should be to your attorney, or a family member who will contact your attorney. Because, as with any encounter with the police, sheer bad luck may end up with you in handcuffs.
...and if you’re drunk you’re better off fleeing and turning yourself in after sobering up. Hit & run is easier to beat (and on average gets penalised less) than DUI.
Also, if you really want to kill someone, the cheapest (in terms of legal penalty) way to do it is to make it look like a car accident, even if the ‘accident’ is your fault. If you can get your target on a bicycle then even better - it’s very likely you’ll end up with little more than a small traffic fine, probably won’t even get points. Bottom line, the motor vehicle is THE murder weapon of choice.
I spent a week in Onset one night.
>>By LINDA CORCORAN May 22, 2010 ONSET -- Gina Giovangelo, the 18-year-old wanted in connection with a fatal car crash Tuesday night, bolted from authorities barefoot into a wooded area this afternoon after police found her hideout at a local motel.
Giovangelo, Jordan Robinson, 20, and Cameron Byers, also 20, all of Barnstable, were all arrested by Wareham police shortly before 3 p.m. this afternoon near the Cranberry Highway.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100522/NEWS11/100529923
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