Ryan A. Greenberg, 17, of Barrington, right, leaves court with his father, Gary, after being arraigned on charges in connection with the death of Patrick Murphy last week on the Barrington River.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy Mary Murphy

PROVIDENCE — The lawyer for Ryan A. Greenberg, the 17-year-old Barrington student accused in last week’s boating death of classmate Patrick Murphy, said yesterday that Greenberg “is sick over” the loss of his best friend.

Greenberg, asked by reporters if he was sorry in the wake of Murphy’s death, did not speak as he and his parents left District Court yesterday morning.

He was arraigned on one state felony count of reckless operation, death resulting; a state misdemeanor count of refusing to take a Breathalyzer test on the night of Murphy’s death; and a new count from Barrington police of underage possession of alcohol.

Through his lawyer, William Dimitri, Greenberg entered no plea to the felony count and not guilty pleas to the misdemeanors. He was released on $10,000 personal recognizance on the state charges and $2,000 personal recognizance on the town charge.

He was ordered by Judge William Clifton to undergo random drug and alcohol testing.

“He’s sick over this,” Dimitri told reporters as the Greenbergs walked from the courthouse. “This is not an easy time for him. This was his best friend.”

Greenberg was driving the boat, owned by another family, that was pulling Murphy on a kneeboard on the evening of July 17. As rescue workers searched for Murphy, Greenberg failed a field sobriety test before refusing the Breathalyzer test.

Alcohol was found on the boat. Murphy’s body wasn’t recovered until the following afternoon.

The specific events that caused Murphy’s death have not been made public, although the state medical examiner ruled on July 20 that he was killed by blunt force trauma and by his body being slashed by something sharp. Investigators believe it was the boat’s propeller.

Yesterday, Dimitri questioned the suggestion that his client was impaired at the time.

“If he was so intoxicated as they allege, why did they permit him to stay in the water for over an hour searching for his friend?” the lawyer said. “Why didn’t they, when he got on the harbormaster’s boat, give him a field sobriety test? Why, when he came off the boat at the dock, didn’t they give him a field sobriety test? Three and a half hours later they gave him one in a wet bathing suit, a wet T-shirt, shivering. [It’s] unfair.”

One reporter asked, as Dimitri walked away, if he was saying that Greenberg failed the test because he was cold. Another asked why Greenberg refused to take a Breathalyzer test. Dimitri ignored the questions.

Barrington Police Chief John LaCross declined to respond to Dimitri’s comments.

“It will all come out in the grand jury,” he said.

At the arraignment, Greenberg said little except to give the judge his date of birth and address. He was dressed in khaki pants, a tie, and a blue blazer.

Murphy’s parents, John and Phoebe, sat quietly in the courtroom. After the proceedings, they left by a back door.

The prosecutor, Special Assistant Attorney General Christian Capizzo, asked the judge to set bail at $10,000 with surety, require alcohol and drug testing, set a curfew for the 17-year-old, ban him from operating any watercraft, and prohibit him from speaking with two witnesses in the case, Turner Davis and Brendan Loflin.

Davis’ family owns the boat.

Loflin was the other person on the boat that night. The boat is registered to Davis’ father, who told The Journal last week that he did not know how the three teens acquired the 21-foot Seminole speedboat kept at the Barrington Yacht Club.

Clifton agreed to the ban on operating watercraft and the random testing.

“He’s before this court as an adult,” said the judge. “I’m not going to impose a curfew.”

He rejected the state’s request for a no-contact order after Dimitri argued, “There is no indication at any time of any attempt to intimidate a witness. These are people he grew up with.”

With reports from Mary Murphy

gemery@cox.net