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Sunday, November 07, 1993 Page: 3A QUICK WORDS: PETRINI MAY FACE 3 TO
12 YEARS
WILKES-BARRE — Caroline Petrini, 25, of Nanticoke was arraigned and
released on $25,000 bail by District Justice Leonard Harvey, Dallas, Friday
night. The Wilkes University business major turned herself in to police after
papers were filed for her arrest in a drunken-driving double fatality.
A preliminary hearing for the Nanticoke woman will be at 3:15 p.m. Nov. 15
before District Justice Bernard Hendrzak, Wilkes-Barre Township.
Petrini faces two counts each of homicide by vehicle while driving drunk,
homicide by vehicle and drunken driving. She faces five additional summary
traffic violations.
The two felony charges of homicide by vehicle while driving drunk carry a
mandatory minimum of three to six years incarceration. The other charges are
misdemeanors.
Petrini’s arrest came more than two weeks after the Chevrolet Blazer she
was driving struck two pedestrians, Mark Holena and David Martin Banks, on
Kidder Street the morning of Oct. 21. Holena, 40, of Wilkes-Barre and Banks,
30, of Plymouth, were walking home from their shifts as kitchen cleaners at
The Woodlands Inn & Resort when they were killed.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
A blood alcohol test on Petrini showed she was .18, almost twice the legal
limit of .10 for drunken driving in the state.
The results of toxicology tests on both men will not be available for
several weeks, according to Luzerne County Coroner Dr. George E. Hudock Jr.,
who performed the autopsies.
Petrini told police she was dancing at The Woodlands before the accident.
She was driving to Denny’s restaurant to meet friends when she struck the men
at about 2:25 a.m., police said.
After striking the two men, Petrini proceeded to the restaurant where a
passenger in her truck called police.