Manslaughter charge filed in fatal crash

November 7, 2007

A special grand jury has charged a man with involuntary manslaughter in an August crash that killed a Dorchester woman, the Suffolk district attorney's office reported yesterday. Jason Bailey, 29, of Mattapan was also charged with three counts of leaving the scene of an accident causing serious injury and one count of leaving the scene of an accident causing death. He is accused of causing a crash about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 3, in which Porsche Hubbard, 18, died and three others were injured. After a spat between the two parties at a gas station, prosecutors say, Bailey followed the car in which Hubbard and the other victims were traveling and forced their car into a light pole and a tree. Bailey has been held on $100,000 cash bail since his arraignment the day of the crash, authorities said.

Carbon monoxide emergency calls nearly doubled in the year after lawmakers required that the alarms be installed in homes. State Fire Marshall Steve Coan said the increase in calls is a sign that homeowners are complying with the law. He says there were 10,000 carbon monoxide-related calls last year compared with 2005, an increase of 93 percent. Nicole's Law was passed shortly after Nicole Garofalo, 7, of Plymouth died of carbon monoxide poisoning in her home when snow clogged a boiler vent in January 2005. The law requires a battery-operated or plug-in detector with battery backup in houses where gasoline, oil, wood, or propane are burned. The law is enforced mainly on the sale or transfer of a property, although it is also enforced when the Fire Department is called, for example, to inspect a new addition. (AP)

Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen announced a $12.8 million project yesterday to reconstruct 6.5 miles of Interstate 93 from Braintree to Savin Hill. The roadway includes the Zipper-Lane, a reversible high occupancy vehicle lane used during rush hour. Most of the heavy construction is scheduled to begin in the spring, with lane closings at night and at least two open lanes in each direction.

A brother and sister from Norwell are among winners of the first annual Microsoft Above and Beyond Awards. Brittany Bergquist, 16, and her brother Robbie, 13, raised nearly $1 million and donated more than 450,000 phone cards after setting up a foundation called Cell Phones for Soldiers. They came up with the idea after hearing about a soldier who had run up an $8,000 phone bill while calling his family from overseas. The initiative earned the teenagers the Youth Leadership Award, given in partnership with the United Service Organizations. The Bergquists will be flown to New York City Nov. 12 for an awards ceremony. (AP)

A teenager has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after a car crash that killed his front-seat passenger and injured him and two others. The 16-year-old student at Barrington High School, whose name was not released, was also charged with failing to submit to a chemical test. Police say a car carrying four male teenagers from Barrington was speeding when it swerved off the road Monday night and crashed into a tree. (AP)

A judge has forbidden prosecutors and defense lawyers from talking to the press about a deadly home invasion in Cheshire that left a mother and two daughters dead. Public defender Patrick Culligan is representing suspect Steven Hayes and says that news reports about the case have already made it impossible for his client to get a fair trial. Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky are accused in the slaying of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. The lone survivor was Dr. William Petit Jr., who was badly beaten but managed to escape. A lawyer for The Hartford Courant argued against the gag order. (AP)

American Red Cross blood collectors who serve New Hampshire and southeastern Vermont have voted to go on strike this month. A Red Cross Blood Services executive said the organization is prepared to bring in help from other states to keep the Manchester donor center running. Mobile blood drives might be cut back in other parts of the state. The union is negotiating its first contract. (AP)