You can. I'm not.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Boston's Breakfast Box Bomb
"N.H. driver faces charges in deaths; Two Mass. victims were on bike ride" by Peter Schworm | Globe Staff, September 24, 2013
A 19-year-old driver who fatally struck two Massachusetts cyclists Saturday morning in Hampton, N.H., just hours after being pulled over for speeding in virtually the same location, faces charges of negligent homicide and second-degree assault, authorities said Tuesday.
James Reams, the Rockingham County attorney in New Hampshire, said Darriean Hess of Seabrook, N.H., was speeding when she veered across Route 1A, crossing a double line, and crashed into a group of cyclists taking part in an organized 100-mile ride along the coast.
Her speed was “not reasonable given the events that were taking place that day and all the warnings we had posted,” Reams said at a news conference. He would not specify how fast she was driving. “I’ll characterize it as excessive,” he said.
Reams also said inattention played a role in the crash.
Hess, who was driving without a license, had been stopped for speeding in nearly the exact spot just hours before the fatal crash. At 12:45 a.m. Saturday, she was pulled over for driving nearly twice the 30-mile-per-hour speed limit.
She was what?
Pamela Wells, 60, of South Hamilton, and Elise Bouchard, 52, of Danvers, were killed in the crash....
Hess was arrested Tuesday afternoon....
She is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday....
Reams would not say whether Hess was texting before the crash....
Pete Stidman, executive director of the Boston Cyclists Union, said cyclists would take a measure of solace from the criminal charges.
“From all appearances this person shouldn’t have been on the road, and was driving erratically,” he said. “It’s a clear case when the police need to come down hard. We have to send a message to other drivers, especially younger drivers.”
In another fatal crash involving a cyclist, a 21-year-old from Massachusetts was killed in Ohio Monday evening when she was hit from behind by a sport utility vehicle.
Emilee Gagnon of Holliston was riding cross-county to California to raise money for a multiple sclerosis charity. The driver, a 49-year-old Ohio woman, was adjusting her visor to shield against the sun when she struck Gagnon, throwing her from her bicycle, law enforcement officials said. Gagnon was wearing a helmet but sustained fatal injuries.
Neither speed nor alcohol is considered a factor in the crash, which happened around 7:20 p.m. authorities said.
Gagnon was a free spirit who “grabbed life by the handfuls,” said the Rev. Bonnie Steinroeder of the First Congregational Church of Holliston, the church that Gagnon’s family attends. She was inspired to make the ride because of her grandfather, who has MS.
“She wanted to do this ride for him,” she said.
Gagnon was a cancer survivor herself, Steinroeder said, an experience that shaped her outlook on life....
At Westfield State, Gagnon majored in art and minored in both French and ethnic and gender studies....
Related: Dobelle in Denial
Also see:
Dobelle may face suspension at Westfield State
State freezes university’s funding
Westfield inquiry broke laws, alleges Dobelle’s lawyer
And now they have an alumni to mourn.
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And why did the Globe change the subject?
"Second person is arrested in N.H. fatal crash" by Peter Schworm and Derek J. Anderson | Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent, September 25, 2013
SEABROOK, N.H. — In a surprising twist in the case of a New Hampshire teenager charged with plowing into a group of bicyclists who were on a 100-mile ride, killing two Massachusetts women, police made a second arrest Wednesday night.
Earlier Wednesday, the alleged driver, Darriean Hess, 19, was arraigned by video conference in Hampton District Court on charges of negligent homicide and second-degree assault.
But Hampton police said later in the evening that they had also arrested Cindy Sheppard, 48, of Hampton, and charged her with providing drugs to Hess early on the morning of the crash Saturday. Sheppard is also alleged to have allowed Hess to drive without a license.
What drugs?
Sheppard was charged with selling a controlled substance and an offense of allowing an improper person to operate a vehicle, police said. The relationship between the women was not clear Wednesday night.
Police said that some time after 1:30 Saturday morning, Sheppard supplied Hess with narcotics and shortly after 8 a.m. allowed Hess to drive a 2002 Honda, even though Sheppard knew Hess did not have a driver’s license.
What kind of narcotics?
Sheppard is being held on $10,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Seabrook, police said.
At Hess’s arraignment, David Kelley, a retired State Police major, testified that he saw the teenager driving so fast over a bridge that he assumed someone was chasing her.
“I thought I would see cruisers following behind,” Kelley told police at the scene.
Authorities say Hess veered across Route 1A before fatally striking the two cyclists, who were taking part in the lengthy ride along the coast. After the crash, Hess told Kelley she had taken her eyes off the road for a few seconds, according to court documents released Wednesday.
The details of the crash, which left two other riders seriously injured, came out at the court proceeding, where Hess was ordered held on $50,000 bail....
Hess, who had been stopped for speeding just hours before the accident in virtually the same location, showed little emotion during the hearing, which was conducted via video conference from the county jail.
In bail arguments, prosecutor Barry Newcomb said that although Hess had no criminal record, the seriousness of the charges warranted high bail.
“We’re concerned that she is a risk to public safety,” Newcomb said.
With family in Alaska, he said, she also posed a fight risk.
Prosecutors have not said whether they believe Hess was texting before the crash.
Hess’s lawyer, Anthony Naro, said Hess had lived in Seabrook nearly her entire life and was not about to leave her immediate family, which he described as tight-knit.
“Her core is in Seabrook,” said Naro, a public defender. “There's absolutely no flight risk.”
Hess, who is engaged to be married, agreed to be held on house arrest, Naro said. The judge rejected that option.
Like she is entitled to have some say in the matter? She may not be a member of a certain tribe, but she sure is acting with all their infamous arrogance.
Naro said that Hess was traumatized by the fatal crash, and that she did not plan to drive soon, if ever.
She has not been eating, he said....
Awwww, poor girl!
Pamela Wells, 60, of South Hamilton and Elise Bouchard, 52, of Danvers were killed in the crash....
But poor little Miss drug addict Hess isn't eating, awww!
In court records, police said that visibility was clear, and that a driver should have been able to see the group of cyclists from several hundred feet away. Cyclists were traveling single file on the far right side of the road.
After the crash, Hess crossed back into her lane, then into the breakdown lane, where she “continued to crash into roadway delineators,” police said. She then crashed into a wooden Seabrook town sign.
What were the narcotics?!?!
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"N.H. woman held on $10,000 bail in bicycle deaths" by Peter Schworm | Globe Staff, September 26, 2013
HAMPTON, N.H. – As a suspected drug dealer was arraigned Thursday on charges of supplying a powerful narcotic to a 19-year-old who then allegedly struck and killed two Massachusetts cyclists, a third person was charged in connection with the crash.
Cindy Sheppard, 48, who faces separate charges of distributing heroin and cocaine from a June arrest, is accused of providing the pain reliever Fentanyl to Darriean Hess, who authorities said veered across Route 1A in Hampton on Saturday morning and slammed into a group of cyclists participating in an organized 100-mile ride, killing two of the cyclists and injuring two others.
And there you go -- while this nation's authorities have their panties in a bunch over medical marijuana. Of course, CIA drug runners and money-laundering banks profit much from the hard drug trade. I $ugge$t you keep reading.
For the second consecutive day, court documents shed new light on the events leading up to the fatal crash, while raising further questions about its cause.
Prosecutors said investigators are trying to determine whether Hess had taken the drug before getting behind the wheel. Police said Hess, an unlicensed driver, told a witness to the crash that she had taken her eyes off the road for a few seconds.
Which drug? There are three of them.
Hours after Sheppard was arraigned, police said the owner of the car involved in the crash was charged for allowing Hess to drive on the night of the crash despite knowing she was unlicensed.
Scott Martin, 19, of Seabrook, was summoned to appear in court on Oct. 23 on the violation.
Her fiancee?
Sheppard, who police have described as a “significant source of heroin” in the area, was ordered held on $10,000 bail. In a separate court hearing related to the previous drug dealing charges, she was ordered held on $25,000 bail.
Oh, so they KNOW ALL ABOUT IT and didn't shut her down?
Additionally, Sheppard was charged with knowingly allowing Hess to drive a car without a license, a violation. After police stopped Hess for speeding around 12:45 a.m. Saturday, about seven hours before the crash, they would not allow Hess to continue driving because she did not have a license, and released the car to Sheppard, who lives nearby.
But Hess told police that Sheppard gave her back the keys to the 2002 Honda “with the knowledge that she would drive the vehicle in the morning,” even though police had told her Hess was unlicensed.
Sheppard pleaded not guilty to the charge. Police said Hess has never held a valid license in any state.
Hess told police she had spent the night at Sheppard’s home. The relationship between the women was not known, but police said that two friends who were looking for Hess early Saturday learned that she was “with Cindy.”
Friends looking for their fix? Was Hess a low-level distributor and user?
Prosecutors say they expect to file additional charges against Sheppard in connection with the crash.
On Wednesday, Hess was arraigned on charges of negligent homicide in the deaths of Pamela Wells, 60, of South Hamilton and Elise Bouchard, 52, of Danvers, friends who had trained for the lengthy bike ride along the coast all summer....
In court Thursday, Sheppard’s lawyer, Neil Reardon, argued for low bail, saying Sheppard had no criminal convictions and deep ties to the area. Sheppard has had both legs amputated below the knee, and is scheduled to undergo surgery, he said....
So just excuse the life-destroying drug-dealing. Either that or the fact that the woman was driven to such measures speaks to the failure of the entire $y$tem.
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