This case brings back memories that we have discussed with you not so long ago.
The case is pending in Attleboro. The criminal allegation? Vehicular Homicide.
26-year-old Arman Chaudhary (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) from Lynn is the driver in question.
The Boston Herald tells us that the Defendant is accused of driving more than 100 miles per hour, ending his trip by way of a tragic collision. A fatal collision.
Police officers in Duxbury, Massachusetts have arrested a man from Pembroke, Massachusetts after they discovered thousands of dollars and a variety of drugs stored inside the man’s vehicle. Officers in the area received a report of a vehicle crash and were responding on scene when they made their discovery. The call came in on Thursday just after midnight.
The crash occurred in the area of an intersection between Church Street and Tremont Street in Duxbury. Upon arriving on scene, law enforcement officials discovered that the vehicle in question had struck several sign posts before coming to a stop near the intersection. Responding police officers have indicated that based on the evidence immediately visible at the scene, they determined they had grounds for an arrest of the operator of the vehicle. The operator of the vehicle was later identified as 23 year old James Bako-Berry of Pembroke, Massachusetts. He was officially arrested at the time for driving under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, an open container of alcohol and a stop sign violation. There were no reported injuries, to the driver or otherwise, pertaining to the arrest of this particular individual. Continue reading
Police officers in Brockton, Massachusetts had their hands full on Tuesday night when they had to actively pursue vehicles in three separate chases that took place throughout the evening and into late night hours. One of the incidents involved an individual who already possessed three active warrants when he sped by Brockton police officer Lt. Kenneth LeGrice around 5:12 PM Tuesday. LeGrice was monitoring traffic around the area of Spring Street and North Warren Avenue when he became aware of the man with the active warrants.
The man in question is Gerron Allen Harper, 21 years old, from Worcester, Massachusetts. When Officer Lt. Kenneth LeGrice attempted to stop Harper, he sped away—which led to the first car chase the Brockton police department would encounter in just a few short hours. According to reports provided by Lt. Kenneth LeGrice, after failing to pull over for Lt. LeGrice, Gerron Harper drove into a parking lot located at 139 Pleasant Street. However, he didn’t stay there long. Just moments later Harper drove over the curb and out onto Pleasant Street, where the pursuit continued. LeGrice said that after Harper pulled onto Pleasant Street, he pulled off the road again to enter the parking lot of a Vincente’s grocery store. Harper didn’t wait there long either. Shortly after pulling into that parking lot, he sped off again, this time onto Green Street followed by Highland Street. Not long after, Gerron Harper crashed his car into the front steps of a residence located at 60 Highland Street.
After Harper crashed his car into the steps of the building, he immediately jumped out of the car and fled from pursuing officers on foot. He was finally reprimanded by Brockton police officers in the backyard of another residence located at 71 Highland Street.
It is easy for most of us to condemn a drunk driver. One should not drink alcohol and drive.
That’s pretty clear.
Sometimes, though, the lines are a bit blurrier when it comes to questions of safe driving. Take the recent case of a 65-year-old man from New York who just plowed into six pedestrians in East Orleans on Sunday.
Police say he may have fallen asleep while driving.
Orleans Police Lt. Kevin Higgins says that the man was headed toward Nauset Beach on Beach Road and was rounding the corner at the intersection with Nauset Heights Road when it appears he fell asleep. Higgins said it was as if he didn’t straighten the wheel to proceed down toward Nauset Beach, but instead continued the turn, hitting six of seven pedestrians who had their back to traffic and were walking on the right side of the road.
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When I have been able to blog over the past few weeks, we have been discussing cases involving Massachusetts motor vehicle crimes. In particular, vehicular homicide cases involving negligent operation as a result of the driver falling asleep or otherwise losing consciousness. The two prior postings on this subject can be located at my posting of June 26th and July 7th.
You may think that I am making up the fact that the Commonwealth is prosecuting these cases of negligence as crimes despite the existing civil litigation.
I’m not.
On my last blog, I said that, “There are other cases, similar to this, which better demonstrate not only the attitude on the part of the Commonwealth when it comes to car accidents, but also it’s rather uneven view of such cases.” That blog, incidently, was posted on June 26th.
I had expected to continue it the next day, but I got swept up in a trial of my own on the subject. By the time I was ready to post, it was too close to the trial to do so. I did not want to risk being told I was jury-tampering.
But the motor vehicle homicide trial of my client is over now. After two years of hell, venturing through the criminal justice system, the jury found him Not Guilty. The matter now rests within the civil justice system…where, in my opinion, it belongs.
Ghuzlan Alghazali, 26, and Mohamed Alfageeh, 29, both of Allston have had a rough week in the Massachusetts criminal justice system. It resulted from a horrific and tragic accident over the weekend. There was a crash in Back Bay and two pedestrians were left dead.
As the week began, Alghazali, whom the Commonwealth claims was driving the vehicle, was facing two counts of Motor Vehicle Homicide by negligent operation. More specifically, law enforcement claimed that She drove through a red light and struck another vehicle. That vehicle rolled over form the impact and struck the two pedestrians, causing the deaths.
Alfageeh, the alleged passenger in Alghazali’s car, was said to be facing charges of misleading investigators. That’s right, we are talking about the felony charge of Intimidation of a Witness, an unfortunately-named charge we have often discussed. His alleged crime was in telling law enforcement that it had been him driving the car instead of Alghazali.
As I just returned picking up my daughter at college and then drove my son and his mother to Logan Airport for his first appearance in Los Angeles, I have been kind of “offspring-minded” this week. Then, just this morning, as I was listening to WBZ radio, I heard of another one of those news stories that hits me between the eyes both as a parent and as a lawyer.
It was in Brockton. It was approximately 8:00am yesterday morning. Kids were crossing the street to board a school bus just like any other week day when Boston’s Blizzards are not standing in the way.
An automobile apparently came racing down the street and struck three of those children.
I regret that I have been lousy at getting blogs up here this week. If you have noticed on the news coverage …it has been a busy week on a particular new matter in Uxbridge.
In the meantime, given “March Madness” and such it seems that folks have sports on their mind. Sometimes, the two areas of interest (sports and criminal justice) intersect. No, not only in cases like those of Aaron Hernandez, but all kinds of cases
Anybody can find themselves facing criminal charges.
On January 28, 2014 at about 3:15PM on Route 95 South, near Burlington, MA, a mattress flew off of the roof of a truck, ultimately causing the death of a 56 year old woman from Framingham, MA. While it is far too early to speculate about what happened and why, this fact pattern does raise some interesting legal issues. As of the time of this blog, it does not appear as though the truck driver has come forward or the police have found the identity of truck driver.
The first issue to consider is with what criminal charges the truck driver can potentially be charged. The first charge that comes to mind is leaving the scene of personal injury. One element, however, of this crime that the prosecutor must prove is that the operator knew that there was an accident. This may prove to be a very difficult task for the prosecutor to prove because the incident occurred behind the truck driver. While the driver may certainly have seen what happened, it is up to the Commonwealth to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew there was an accident. Perhaps only statements that the operator made either to a passenger or on a cell phone may help the prosecution in this regard.
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