Ex-cop in hit-and-run case gets 5-year sentence

A former police officer who hit a woman while driving and left her to die as if she was a stray dog was resentenced yesterday to five years in prison.

Martin Ilo Kapileo was sentenced to five years imprisonment for his conviction of five charges in connection with the hit-and-run case.

“Instead of taking responsibility, you attempted to elude a good Samaritan who witnessed the accident and followed you while calling for other police officers to assist the victim and to arrest you,” Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho told Kapileo.

The 55-year-old Kapileo was convicted of failure to stop at a scene of an accident, drinking alcohol while operating a vehicle, restriction upon use of a government vehicle, possession of an open container while operating a vehicle, and failure to exercise due care.

Kapileo is eligible for parole.

Camacho did not impose a fine and restitution as Kapileo is indigent and that the victim has already received a judgment of $60,000 from her lawsuit in federal court.

Camacho said Kapileo hit the woman on the side of the road and left her there as if she was a stray boonie dog.

A sentence of five years imprisonment is appropriate, Camacho said, because Kapileo as a then-police officer had a duty to remain at the accident scene, to offer assistance, and call for medical help.

“Defendant was operating a police vehicle and the victim received serious head injuries. The people of the CNMI entrust police officers with the duty and responsibility to serve and protect,” Camacho said.

The judge said Kapileo relies heavily on his medical condition that he is wheelchair-bound to ask to be released immediately.

“To simply release the defendant because of his medical condition would mean that criminals can escape appropriate punishment by simply listing a medical condition,” Camacho pointed out.

He noted that based on the presentence investigation report prepared by the Office of Adult Probation, which contained several incidents of theft, domestic violence, and assault and battery when Kapileo was a police officer and his actions on the day of the accident, “it is obvious to the court” that the defendant lacks the integrity and character to be a police officer.

Assistant attorney general Jonathan Glass Jr. had recommended a five-year prison sentence. Defense lawyer Brien Sers Nicholas recommended a sentence of time-served and no fine.

The five-year prison sentence that Camacho imposed yesterday is the same sentence that he slapped against Kapileo on July 13, 2013. The only difference now is that there is no fine and that Kapileo can be eligible for parole.

The resentencing was made after the CNMI Supreme Court vacated in April 2016 the five-year prison sentence imposed on Kapileo.

The victim, Mayona S. Bergosa, sustained head injuries in the back of her head after the police truck’s right side mirror hit her as she was walking on the grassy side of the road on Chalan Monsignor Guerrero Road in Dandan in the afternoon of Oct. 27, 2012.