Kervens Boutin killed two of his passengers in high-speed crash while drunk and high on marijuana
MINEOLA, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a West Hempstead man was sentenced today for a drug and alcohol-fueled crash in 2013 that killed two young passengers, 22-year-old Blossom Castro and 20-year-old Bryan Rivas.
Kervens Boutin, 33, was sentenced by Acting Supreme Court Justice Patricia Harrington to two to six years in prison on the top charge with additional sentences on other charges to run concurrently. He was also ordered to pay $12,000 in restitution to a victims’ services program that paid for funerals of the two victims. Boutin’s license is also revoked for six months after his release and he must install an ignition interlock in his car for one year after he is released.
The defendant pleaded guilty on Oct. 10, 2014, to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide (a B felony), two counts of Assault in the 2nd Degree (a D felony), Aggravated Operating a Motor Vehicle While under the Influence of Alcohol (an unclassified misdemeanor) and Operating a Motor Vehicle While Impaired by Drugs (an unclassified misdemeanor) before Nassau County Court Judge Tammy Robbins.
“This defendant did not consider the lives of his passengers or anyone else on the road when he drove high and drunk and crashed his car at an estimated 99 miles per hour on the Southern State Parkway, killing two people and seriously injuring everyone else in his car, including himself,” DA Singas said. “Kervens Boutin altered many lives with his actions and it is a miracle that he didn’t strike any cars or kill anyone else during his drug and alcohol-fueled drive that morning.”
DA Singas said that at approximately 5:45 a.m. on January 27, 2013, Boutin was speeding in his 2008 Nissan Maxima with four passengers westbound on the Southern State Parkway when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a line of trees on the north side of the roadway just east of Exit 22.
The front seat passenger, Castro, was the only one not ejected from the vehicle, and was killed on impact. Bryan Rivas, 20, was also killed. The remaining two passengers, 19-year-old Marlo Cabrera and 22-year-old Antonio Rivas, were both seriously injured, and Rivas’s right leg was amputated after the crash. Both of Boutin’s legs were also amputated.
Based on the forensic evidence at the scene, the New York State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit estimated that Boutin was traveling 99 miles per hour when he lost control of his vehicle. His blood-alcohol content 40 minutes after the crash was .31, nearly four times the legal limit. The active ingredient for marijuana was also present in his system.
Assistant District Attorney Michael Bushwack of DA Singas’ Vehicular Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case. Boutin is represented by Bruce Barket, Esq.