Police: Drunk driver killed Massachusetts man in crash

Boston TV stations and newspapers are reporting that a New Bedford man is pleading not guilty to motor vehicle homicide after a fatal car accident this past weekend.

The 23-year-old driver was drunk at the time of the crash that killed a 20-year-old man, police say.

The driver faces a wide array of charges in addition to homicide: drunken driving, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, driving on a suspended license and possession of drugs with the intent to distribute.

He was arrested Sunday morning following the New Bedford crash in which he reportedly fled the scene on foot. He then allegedly ran to neighbors who live near the crash site, asking them to let him in to their homes. “I can’t go to jail for this,” witnesses said he pleaded.

Police soon located the man, who they said had the “odor of alcohol” on his breath and also had difficulty walking. A local newspaper reports that the man told police that he ran from the accident scene because he “was drunk.”

Law enforcement officials said they found 31 suspected Oxycodone pills in the man’s possession, as well as “large amounts of marijuana” and about $3,000 in cash.

Obviously, drunken driving accidents are 100 percent preventable. There is no excuse for intoxicated driving that so often leads to accidents that leave people with serious injuries or that kill innocent drivers, passengers or pedestrians.

The tragedy is compounded when the victim is as young as the man killed in this accident.

Source: Fox Boston, “New Bedford man pleads not guilty in fatal crash,” May 29, 2013