Central Islip, NY - August 3, 2018 - Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini today announced that Christopher Bouchard, 28, of Mastic Beach, pleaded guilty to two counts of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, a C felony, for killing two men on a dirt bike in a motor vehicle crash in North Bellport in 2017.
“My office worked closely with the victims’ families to come to this disposition. We believe this outcome administers justice and hope it brings them a sense of closure,” District Attorney Sini said.
Bouchard is expected to be sentenced to three and one-half to 10 and one-half years in prison.
At approximately 7:15 a.m. on June 22, 2017, officers from the Suffolk County Police Department’s Seventh Precinct responded to the defendant’s residence following a report that his brother’s 2006 Honda dirt bike had been stolen out of the residence’s garage.
Bouchard was later notified that the dirt bike had been seen by a friend in the Bellport area. He then drove his 2002 Honda Odyssey minivan, with his brother as a passenger in the vehicle, toward Bellport. Bouchard observed his brother’s dirt bike with two male occupants on it on Montauk Highway near the intersection of Doane Avenue in North Bellport.
The defendant chased after the bike at a high rate of speed through the streets of North Bellport. At approximately 10:15 a.m., Bouchard’s van struck the rear tire of the dirt bike, causing the two occupants to be thrown off.
The operator of the dirt bike, Keenen King, 19, of Shirley, was pronounced at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. The passenger of the dirt bike, Anthony Holmes-Garriques, 20, of North Bellport, was transported by South Country Ambulance to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center and later transported to Stony Brook University Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Bouchard was arrested by Suffolk County Police on June 22, 2017 and charged with Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree, a D felony. He was indicted on November 6, 2017 on two counts of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, a C felony; two counts of Criminally Negligent Homicide, an E felony; and one count of Reckless Driving, a misdemeanor.
Bouchard is scheduled to be sentenced on October 9 in front of Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Raymond Varuolo, of the Vehicular Crime Bureau.