Red Sox-Yankees spat cited in N.H. killing
By David Abel, Globe Staff
Ticked off by an earlier scuffle and taunted by anti-Yankees chants, a 43-year-old mother pulled out of a New Hampshire parking lot last week and rammed into one of the Red Sox fans taunting her, prosecutors said today.
The woman, Ivonne Hernandez of Nashua, had allegedly been drinking and was charged with reckless conduct, aggravated drunken driving, and second-degree murder. She was arraigned in Nashua District Court this morning on charges she used her car to kill Matthew Beaudoin, 29, of Nashua, who died Saturday of head trauma at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington.
Prosecutors would only say that an argument led to the attack. But a relative of Beaudoin’s said the scuffle escalated after a group of people that included Beaudoin saw a Yankees sticker on the back window of Hernandez’s car. They began chanting “Yankees suck!”
“I want her to rot in a cold jail cell for the rest of her life and remember every day the face that hit her windshield,” Faith Beaudoin, the victim’s sister, said in a telephone interview. “I want her to remember that she took a wonderful, kind-hearted gentleman. She has children of her own. How could she want to harm another’s child?”
Hernandez allegedly sped toward the group, striking Beaudoin and his friend Maria Hughes, 21, with whom she apparently had a fist fight shortly before in the parking lot. Hughes suffered minor injuries.
Hernandez, of Nashua, was arrested at the scene. She acknowledged she had been drinking and refused to take a breath-alcohol test, said Susan Morrell, a senior assistant attorney general. Hernandez said she had been in an argument with the group.
"She indicated to police that she wanted to scare this group of people. She thought they would get out of the way," Morrell said. "She never braked, and she accelerated at a high speed for about 200 feet. She went directly at this group of people."
Hernandez was ordered held without bail after being arraigned Monday in Nashua District Court. The charges, including aggravated drunken driving, are felonies, so Hernandez could not enter a plea.
Her public defender, James Quay, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Beaudoin died of massive head trauma at a hospital, Morrell said.
Beaudoin and his friends were previously at Slade's Food & Spirits. Tanya Moran, a bartender there, said the dispute occurred after the group left the bar. She said Hernandez was not in the bar that night.
Moran said she has known Beaudoin for about a year. “He was a wonderful guy and he’s going to be greatly, greatly missed,” she said. “I just want to see justice served. My heart goes out to his family and friends.”
Material from the Associated Press is included in this report.
