The sad tale of two young people's deaths

HIGHLAND MILLS - This story should not be about the local boy who died in a violent crash July 29. It should be about Aline Filippone, a 24-year-old woman from Highland Mills, whose life was ended by the local boy's reckless driving. The only thing they now have in common is that they were both buried on Wednesday. This is how a heartbroken Woodbury Police Chief Robert Kwiatkowski described one of several tragedies to hit the town in recent weeks. The chief recounted the events leading up to the July 29 crash. Woodbury police officer Jay Jones was driving on Smith Clove Road when he saw a motorcyclist doing a wheelie on Route 32 in the midst of heavy traffic. Jones called for assistance to stop the cyclist for reckless driving. But that officer was not in a position to make the stop. So Jones put on the lights and siren of his police cruiser and worked through the traffic to catch up to the cyclist, identified later as Michael Abrams. Abrams and another biker who had joined up with him, stopped in front of the Provident Bank on Route 32 at 5:30 p.m. Just as the officer was putting his car into park behind the cyclists, Abrams gunned his motorcycle, pulled out at a high rate of speed, and vanished around the corner. Rather than follow in pursuit, Jones radioed the dispatcher to notify the Town of Cornwall that there was a motorcycle on Route 32 going at a high rate of speed that had failed to comply with a police stop. Jones then proceeded to follow the same route as the cyclist. He turned the corner, and found the accident scene. Abrams' motorcycle hit the driver's side door of a PT Cruiser pulling out onto Route 32 with such force, it flipped the car over on its roof. Both Abrams and the driver, Filippone, were killed instantly. The impact threw Filippone's passenger, her fiance, Bryan Pekarek, 33, out of the car. He was treated at St. Luke Cornwall Hospital and has since been released. The young woman was described by Kwiatkowski as a role model for others. She had a good job as an assistant editor at Pearson Education, a publishing house in New Jersey. "She was an upstanding citizen, the chief said. "She did nothing wrong and her life was snuffed out by Michael's reckless driving." The chief said Abrams had 14 summonses from the Woodbury Police Department over the years, including ones for reckless driving and speeding. Asked why Abrams was still allowed to drive based on his ticket history, Kwiatkowski said, "We write the tickets, we don't adjudicate them. He was 22 years old, an adult. He handled his own affairs. His father did everything to straighten him out. We told him he would kill himself with the love he had for speeding. "But," he added, "Michael lived on the edge. He readily admitted he loved the adrenaline he got from speeding. He comes from a good solid family - I'm friends with them, this really hurts me. Michael was the all-American boy until he got behind the wheel of a car or a bike. You can't blame the parents or the police." Michael Abrams was buried in Highland Mills. Alice Filippone's funeral was held in Rockland County. What bothers Kwiatkowski is why Abrams sped off when Jones stopped him. "He knew the officer. It was senseless."