Prosecutor: Hit-and-run defendant was text-messaging

July 16, 2008 01:38 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Maddie Hanna, Globe Correspondent

A 33-year-old Stoughton man told a friend that he was text-messaging at the moment he crashed his car into a man last weekend in Easton and killed him, a Bristol County prosecutor said today.

Michael Faria

Michael Faria pleaded not guilty in Taunton District Court to charges that he hit John McCarthy, 58, of Brockton as McCarthy walked near 140 Washington St. early Saturday morning. Faria was arraigned before Judge Kevan Cunningham on charges of homicide by motor vehicle, operating to endanger, and leaving the scene of an accident. The judge ordered him held on $50,000 bail.

Prosecutor Jessica Lennon said a witness told police that he was the host of a party Faria had left just before the accident. The witness said that Faria had telephoned him and said he was text-messaging when the crash occurred.

Lennon said that Faria had failed to immediately call for help -- and that may have resulted in McCarthy's death. "It is quite possible that if the defendant had contacted 911 at the time of the crash, the victim would be alive today," she said. Authorities estimate the accident happened at about 4:15 a.m.; a passing motorist called police at 4:41 a.m.

Faria's attorney, John LaChance, said, "This incident is a tragic occurrence, Your Honor, but I remind the court -- and the court doesn't need reminding -- we start with the presumption of innocence."

McCarthy, a Vietnam War veteran, often walked in the early morning for exercise, authorities said, and was wearing a reflective vest when he was hit. Detective Sergeant William Fulcher of the Easton police said the victim was probably walking on the shoulder of the road when Faria allegedly hit him. The road does not have a sidewalk.

There were no witnesses to the accident, and investigators had little to go on. But a small fragment of what authorities later determined to be from the wheel well of a black Infiniti sport utility vehicle was found at the scene.

After the make of the suspect's vehicle was publicized, along with the fact that the vehicle had front-end damage, Easton police, working with State Police, began receiving calls from the public. One of those calls, made anonymously Monday, led authorities to the party host. Police obtained an arrest warrant for Faria early Tuesday morning but were unable to locate him. They then tried calling him on his cellphone, and after leaving several messages, Faria called back, Fulcher said. After hours of telephone negotiations, Faria turned himself in.

A probable cause hearing was scheduled for Aug. 12.

Brian R. Ballou of the Globe staff contributed to this report.