Thursday, 4:30 PM
Agent guilty of leaving the scene
By David Abel, GLOBE STAFF
A Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted a special agent from the US Department of Commerce on Thursday of leaving the scene of a crash last year that seriously injured a South Boston man, prosecutors said.
The jury acquitted Thomas Porro, 35, of West Roxbury, of flashing his government-issued gun at the victim before the crash. They are still deliberating whether to convict him of aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
After a four-day trial in Boston, the 12 jurors are deadlocked on the allegation that Porro used a silver 2004 Nissan Maxima to swerve into a motorcycle driven by the injured man, Frank Merlonghi, 46, of South Boston.
Prosecutors said Porro, Merlonghi, and another man were driving in South Boston last March when Porro cut one of the men off in traffic. Porro, driving a government-issued car, made what witnesses described as "a hard, fast motion" into Merlonghi’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle on Summer Street, prosecutors said.
Merlonghi fell off his motorcycle and landed on the median strip. The impact tore much of the skin from his right arm and right leg, and doctors put him into a coma for two weeks while they grafted skin from other parts of his body.
He still has significant injuries to his arm and leg, but he can now walk.
A Boston attorney representing Porro did not return calls.
Witnesses testified Porro sped away after the incident, prosecutors said. Several days later, Boston detectives recovered the Maxima he had been driving at an auto body shop in New Hampshire. It showed signs of an impact with Merlonghi’s motorcycle.
Leaving the scene of a crash that causes serious injuries carries a penalty of six months to two years in jail.
Porro is expected to face sentencing on that count after the jury returns a verdict on the remaining charge.
