Kimberly S. Phelps holds a portrait of her late daughter, Ashley Phelps.

Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

WARWICK — A Coventry man yesterday pleaded not guilty yesterday morning to charges that he left a fatally injured passenger behind after a crash on his all-terrain vehicle last summer.

Gregory Hebert, 23, of 1540 Hill Farm Rd., appeared before Superior Court Judge William E. Carnes Jr., with his lawyer, Matthew B. Smith. Hebert listened stoically as two felony counts were read to him — driving to endanger with death resulting and leaving the scene of an accident with death resulting.

Hebert remains free after posting $20,000 bail.

Ashley R. Phelps, 21, was on the back of an ATV driven by Hebert in Coventry on June 23 when the vehicle crashed into mailboxes and rolled over, the police said. Both were thrown off the vehicle. Hebert is accused of getting back on the ATV and speeding off. Phelps, who the police found lying in a driveway moaning with extensive head injuries, according to the report, was initially taken to Kent Hospital and later transported to Rhode Island Hospital, where she died nine days later.

Ashley’s parents, Thomas Phelps, 43, and Kimberly Phelps, 44, of Coventry, have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Hebert in Superior Court. Hebert’s lawyer has filed a response denying the lawsuit’s allegations.

“We’ve denied all the allegations,” Smith said yesterday. “It’s my objective that we defend against that lawsuit as vigorously as we will defend against the criminal indictment.”

Smith declined to comment on whether Hebert’s vehicle carried any liability insurance.

During the arraignment, Hebert was joined by family members. They declined comment.

“Our hearts go out to the family of the young lady that was killed,” Smith said after court ended.

Hebert, who works for NAPA Auto Parts Store, will be allowed to travel out of the state for “the purposes of his employment,” Carnes said.

Hebert is scheduled back in court April 23 for a pre-trial conference.

In interviews this week, the Phelpses called for changes in state law, such as requiring ATV drivers to take safety courses and to have liability insurance. They said they’d like to see state legislation that would help prevent fatal ATV crashes in the future.

Thomas Phelps, a Providence police officer, said ATVs can costs thousands of dollars and can reach very high speeds, but people often jump on them without knowing the rules and without knowing how to ride them safely.

“You can literally kill someone if you don’t know what you are doing,” he said.

Kimberly Phelps, who is divorced from Thomas Phelps, said ATVs can be dangerous, and that a cousin of hers was nearly killed on one in Exeter. She said safety courses would help ensure “something like this never happens again.”

Thomas Phelps — who has set up a Web site in memory of his daughter, www.ashleyphelps.com — said that when the weather starts getting warm, ATVs start to appear around the state. “Coventry is loaded with them,” he said. “All farm kids. Any time you find rural areas. There should be a place, in all fairness, for the kids to go ride them.”

State law requires ATVs to be registered. Also, ATVs cannot be used on streets or highways, except to cross the road, and operators and passengers must wear helmets, according to a summary of state laws compiled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

According to the police, neither Hebert nor Phelps was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, and Hebert was driving on a road. The police report said there was a 52-foot-long skid mark at the scene.

Donald A. Migliori, a lawyer representing the Phelpses, said ATV safety courses would make people aware of the penalties and “real-life consequences” that can stem from unsafe driving.

“The sad part of this whole case is that Mr. and Mrs. Phelps will never know what their 21-year-old daughter would have looked like on her wedding day, on her college graduation day or on the day her first child was born,” Migliori said. “And similarly, Gregory Hebert will never know a day when he doesn’t know in his heart and mind that he was involved in an event that took a young woman’s life.”

Migliori said that if safety courses and other educational efforts don’t work in preventing crashes, mandatory insurance “would at least pay for some of the devastation left behind.”

Some states require insurance for ATVs, he said. “And if it’s required for cars and motorcycles, why isn’t it required for ATVs, which are known to be more dangerous than both?” he asked.

Migliori said he has yet to see evidence that Hebert had liability insurance for the ATV, which was a black Honda TRX 440 EX.

“This tragedy leaves behind a lot more than human suffering. It leaves behind economic suffering — whether it’s a lifetime of therapy for losing a child, funeral expenses or medical expenses,” Migliori said. Ashley Phelps spent more than a week in Rhode Island Hospital receiving intensive care, and it’s unclear how much of that care will be covered by health insurance, he said.

The civil suit, which alleges negligence and wrongful death, seeks “accountability,” “preventability so people think twice” and “compensation for the economic hardship it leaves behind,” Migliori said.

The litigation also might attract public attention, he said. “Maybe the General Assembly needs to get involved and make sure these are not the facts that other parents would have to confront,” he said.

Scott Wolfson, spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said an estimated 850 ATV-related deaths occur each year nationwide, and the number of such deaths is rising.

But Wolfson said that trend would reverse if ATV riders would do five things: Wear a helmet; stay off paved roads; never drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs; never allow those younger than 16 to ride adult-sized ATVs; and never take passengers on the back of ATVs, most of which are designed for one person. Regarding passengers, he said, “it’s a tragic situation which we see leading to death nearly every week.”

“This is not a situation where the federal government is trying to take away four-wheelers,” Wolfson said. “We are trying to make the riding experience a safer one so riders stay alive.”

efitzpat@projo.com