Hit-run suspect had long record

A Boston Public Works Department employee accused of running down a 64-year-old woman with a city snowplow as she crossed a South Boston street had a long history of drug violations and driving infractions when the city hired him in 2005. But city officials never checked his record because of a new "second-chance" employment policy for criminal offenders.

Joseph M. MacDonald, a 26-year-old South Boston resident who was suspended without pay Saturday after he allegedly fled the scene, had been convicted of illegal drug possession three times and had his driver's license suspended seven times for other infractions in the five years prior to his hiring by the city in September 2005, records show.

City officials say Mayor Thomas M. Menino authorized a new policy two years ago eliminating questions about criminal convictions on all city job applications and dispensing with criminal background checks for applicants for jobs that don't involve working with children or the elderly or accessing residents' homes.

"The mayor believes firmly in giving people a second chance," the spokeswoman, Dot Joyce, said yesterday.

Before the city hired him, records show, MacDonald had been convicted in 2001 of possessing Class B drugs, which include substances such as marijuana. In 2002 and 2003, he was convicted of possessing Class A drugs, which include substances such as cocaine and heroin. His driver's license had been suspended for a year on each charge. His license was suspended an additional six times between November 2000 and May 2005 when South Boston District Court issued warrants for his arrest. It was suspended once in June 2005 when Wrentham District Court issued a warrant for his arrest. The Registry records did not specify reasons for the warrants, and law enforcement officials said they could not disclose them because of privacy reasons.

MacDonald was initially hired by the city as a laborer, performing tasks such as picking up trash and sweeping sidewalks. He was promoted three months later, in December 2005, to driving city trucks, and public works officials sponsored his training last year to operate heavy equipment, city officials said. Joyce, the mayor's spokeswoman, emphasized yesterday that MacDonald had a clean record during his first year of employment, before he was trained and allowed to operate heavy equipment.

MacDonald got into trouble n October, though. He was cited for causing an accident in South Boston and fleeing the scene, records show. His license was suspended once again, this time for 26 days, after he failed to pay the fines associated with the charge.

City officials say they then asked him to take a drug test, which he passed, and they let him continue driving city vehicles.

In December, police charged MacDonald with assault after officers responding to a 911 call found his girlfriend with a swollen eye in the parking lot of a South Boston housing complex, said Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. The 22-year-old woman told police he had hit her several times in the face. MacDonald is to appear in South Boston District Court on Friday on that charge . He pleaded not guilty.

City officials say that last month MacDonald received his commercial driver's license, which allowed him to operate heavy equipment unsupervised.

On Saturday, public works supervisors summoned MacDonald to work between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., because of ice accumulation after a storm, and he was assigned to salt roads in South Boston with a city truck equipped with a plow blade, city officials said. About 11:45 a.m., he turned onto East Broadway from I Street and struck the 64-year-old woman, who was walking in a crosswalk, witnesses told police. MacDonald got out of the truck, spoke to the woman as she lay on the pavement, then got back in the truck, backed up East Broadway to H Street, and sped away, said three witnesses interviewed by the Globe yesterday.

"I thought he was pulling back just to clear the road," said Peter Donovan, an agent at Seaport Realty Group on East Broadway who was working at the time and called 911. "Then he kept driving erratically back up the street."

Paramedics took the woman, whose identity was not released, to Boston Medical Center, where she was treated for injuries to her leg, elbow, hip, and head before being released later that day, the police report says. She declined to comment when reached by telephone Monday.

Two Public Works supervisors, meanwhile, showed up at the scene and told police they had spoken with MacDonald by telephone and expected him to come back. Police say he never did. Officers found the truck parked about two blocks away. Police could not find him at his home, and he has not shown up for work since.

Police are now seeking criminal charges against MacDonald for failure to yield to a pedestrian and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident that caused injuries. A date has yet to be set for a hearing on the proposed charges in South Boston District Court, said Wark of the Suffolk District Attorney's office.

MacDonald could not be reached by telephone yesterday, and no one answered the door at his home. A spokeswoman for the union that represents MacDonald declined to comment.

Dennis Royer, chief of transportation and public works for the city, conceded yesterday that public works officials should have checked MacDonald's driving record before promoting him to truck driver or sponsoring his heavy equipment training.

"Somebody didn't follow through," said Royer, who said he did not plan to check other drivers' records unless they get into trouble on the job.

The city's deputy director of human resources defended the city's policy not to obtain Criminal Offender Record Information, or CORI, for all potential hires. Richard Driscoll said, "If you CORI-ed everybody that . . . made a mistake, people who are looking for a second chance are never going to get a job."

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.

(Correction: Because of incorrect information supplied by the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, a story and graphic in the Feb. 7 City & Region section about Joseph M. MacDonald, a city snowplow driver who allegedly struck a pedestrian, contained several errors. The story incorrectly stated the number of times MacDonald's driver's license had been suspended. His license was ordered suspended 11 times, but was actually suspended three times. The story also incorrectly characterized a traffic citation contained in MacDonald's driving record. The October 2006 citation was for failure to stop, a citation given for running a red light or a stop sign. In addition, because of an editing error, a graphic that ran with the story incorrectly stated that MacDonald was charged Feb. 3 with failure to stop for a pedestrian and fleeing the scene of an accident that caused injury. Police cited him and are seeking criminal charges, but MacDonald has not been formally charged.)