Articles Posted in Drunk Driving in Massachusetts

It should come as no surprise that college students tend to drink more heavily and more often than older Americans. With increased drinking also comes increased risk – not only risk with their own safety, but risk involving the safety of others.

According to a recent news article from Mass Live, Amherst police arrested two students for drunk driving (one involving a car accident) in the same night. The first arrested occurred just after 1 a.m. Defendant in this case is alleged to have been driving drunk when he crashed his car into a snow bank and then hit a utility pole. Luckily, in this case, nobody was injured.

However, as one can imagine, driving a car while intoxicated on an icy road could lead to serious personal injury. Even in many single car crashes, innocent victims are often injured. This could be a passenger in the car or a pedestrian.
Continue reading

According to a recent news report from CBS Boston, a Medford police officer was arrested for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquor (OUI), negligent operation of a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage (hit-and-run), failure to stop for police, speeding and a marked lanes violation (weaving).

Authorities say they were notified of a car accident around 11 p.m. A 911 caller told police he was involved in a hit-and-run accident and was following the suspect. Police found a car driving with extensive front-end damage being followed by caller.

When officers tried to stop suspect, he allegedly refuse to stop for a significant amount of time before finally stopping his vehicle at a local school. Police then ordered suspect out of his vehicle, but he initially ignored several exit order commands before finally getting out of his car, according to authorities.
Continue reading

Drunken driving deaths in Massachusetts are reportedly down significantly, according to the latest report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In fact, the rate has dropped so sharply, it’s down by almost three times the national average.

The NHTSA indicates of the 326 people killed in motor vehicle accidents in Massachusetts in 2013, there were 118 who lost their lives in alcohol-related crashes. That figure represents a 15 percent drop from 2012, which saw alcohol-related traffic deaths dip by 8.5 percent from the year before that.

As noted by a state lobbyist for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, while that kind of decline is encouraging and welcome, the deaths of 118 people is “nothing to celebrate.”
Continue reading

A significant element of damages in a wrongful death lawsuit is the element of pre-death pain and suffering. Compared to other elements of damage, such as lost wages and medical expenses, this element can be tough to prove.

Still, it can result in a substantial amount of compensation. Mass. General Laws c. 229-6 allows for recovery of damages for conscious suffering.

Other states grant the same allowance. But in order to prove it, one must show decedent was alive and in pain for a time prior to dying.
Continue reading

Every year around the holidays, we tend to see more drunk drivers out on the roads. New Year’s Eve probably has more drunk drivers on the road at any given time than any other day during the holiday season. Many people spend the day drinking and watching college football, and then get behind the wheel to drive to a restaurant or party where they will be doing more drinking before driving home. To some it seems like nearly everyone is driving drunk. Safety in numbers is not a defense to drunk driving nor does it make the extremely dangerous conduct any less negligent.

According to a recent news report from the Daily Journal, a man was driving just after midnight when he is alleged to have nearly hit a police K9 unit. Police say defendant drove through a stop sign and raced towards the car in front of him. A police officer who witnessed this, turned on his emergency lights and tried to pull over the suspect fearing he would also drive through the upcoming intersection.

Police then say suspect’s car came to a complete stop and the intersection but the car in front of suspect continued through the intersection and made a U-turn. This vehicle turned out to be the K9 officer.
Continue reading

According to a news article in the Boston Herald, a suspected drunk driver crashed his car into a series of equipment operated by the utility company in East Boston. The alleged drunk driving accident occurred around 4 a.m.

Witnesses reported downed power lines, transformers, and multiple downed telephone poles as a result of the crash. The downed power equipment caused police and firefighters to close Route 1A to all traffic through in East Boston following the accident. Route 1A is the main access road to Boston Logan International Airport as well as towns north of Boston.

It has also been reported another accident occurred when a car crashed into the downed power equipment. An alleged drunk driver was arrested for driving his white pickup truck without a license, and operating a motor vehicle under the influence (OUI) of intoxicating liquor or drugs, and is scheduled to be arraigned at the East Boston District Court.
Continue reading

It should come as no surprise people do things while drunk they would not ordinarily do while sober. However, being intoxicated is not a defense to their negligent actions. In fact, it is the very basis for establishing negligence in drunk driving accident lawsuits.
According to a recent news article from the Boston Herald, one alleged intoxicated driver is said to have “played chicken” with police during his drunk driving arrest. Authorities say a 42-year-old defendant was recently arrested on his fifth drunk driving charge.

Defendant is alleged to have crashed his truck into two parked cars. When police first found defendant around 1:30 a.m., he allegedly rammed one of the responding officer’s police cruisers with his truck and tried to drive away. Police chased defendant to Malden, Massachusetts, where officers say he aimed his truck at second police cruiser.

At this point, defendant is said to have tried to crash into the police car, but the officer managed to swerve to avoid a collision. When the police officer swerved his car, he crashed into a curb and blew a tire. Defendant is then alleged to have driven away on bare rims, as he had four flat tires and did not stop until driving into the Malden River. Once the car was in a few feet of water, defendant got out of the car and was wading in the water until being caught by police. He was taken to a local hospital.
Continue reading