Driver in Crash that Killed Local Man Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison

By Mark Schieldrop

The driver in a fatal Nov. 2013 rollover crash in Richmond that took the life of a promising young North Kingstown man has pleaded no contest to charges of driving under the influence, death resulting, and will spent the next eight years in prison.

Zachary Thole, 21, of 8 Twilight Trail, Richmond, entered his plea before Superior Court Justice Melanie Wilk Thunberg Monday morning and was sentenced to 15 years at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, eight to serve, and will spend the balance suspended with probation.

Thole was also fined $5,000, his license will be suspended for five years upon his release and he must complete 50 hours of community service in addition to obtaining alcohol and substance abuse counseling.

Thole, who was 20 at the time, registered a blood alcohol reading of .102 about two after the crash which happened in the early evening hours of Nov. 22 after Thole and Nicholas Gershkoff, 20, of North Kingstown and a third friend had been drinking at the Cornerstone Pub in Exeter.

Gershkoff was killed when Thole lost control of his truck and it overturned, pinning the North Kingstown native and 2011 graduate of North Kingstown High School. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The three were reportedly served as minors by two bartenders who were later charged with procuring alcohol for minors after a seperate State Police investigation, said Attoreny General Pter F. Kilmartin.

Thole and the third passenger were hurt in the crash and transported to the hospital for treatment, which is where Thole consented to the blood test that confirmed he was under the influence of alcohol while behind the wheel.

“Getting behind the wheel of his truck drunk, Zachary Thole forever destroyed the endless possibilities his friend Nicholas Gershkoff had in his bright future,” Kilmartin said in a release. “The death of someone at the hands of a drunk driver is always tragic, but the loss of a young man who had his life ahead of him should serve as a reminder to all young people that it can happen to them if they choose to drink and drive or if they get in a motor vehicle with someone who has been drinking. The death of Nicholas Gershkoff and the loss of freedom for Zachary Thole is irrefutable proof that underage drinking can have deadly and life changing consequences.”

Gershkoff was in the process of obtaining his bachelor’s degree from the New England Institute of Technology after getting an associates degree in 2013 and was a mechanically-included lover of boats, cars and engines.

Friends and family will always remember Gershkoff as a generous, considerate and loving person. He left behind his parents, twin sister, and a brother.