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Driver faces upgraded charges in Brighton crash

E-mail|Link|Comments () July 20, 2009 12:44 PM

By Vivian Nereim, Globe Correspondent

A driver pleaded not guilty to a charge of motor vehicle homicide in Brighton Municipal Court today after a man she allegedly struck with her car died on Thursday.

Cathy Bergin-August, 47, was also arraigned on a charge of leaving the scene of personal injury resulting in death. The Watertown resident was released on $11,000 cash bail, $1,000 of which was transferred from bail she had posted last week, before Fredy E. Zepeda's death.

Zepeda, who had been loading his 1-year-old son into a car on Cambridge Street when he was hit, had been brought to Massachusetts General Hospital on Wednesday morning with serious head injuries.

On Thursday afternoon, his family decided to stop giving him the drugs that were keeping him alive with little or no signs of brain activity, said the family’s lawyer, Michael Keohane. Zepeda was pronounced dead at about 11:40 p.m. that night, according to a police report.

Zepeda’s wife, Milvia Zepeda, and her son, Randi, appeared in court with other relatives today. The family declined to comment.

“They’re spent,” said Keohane, adding that the family's focus was on making arrangements for Fredy Zepeda’s body and taking care of Randi.

“They’re having a tough time absorbing the process,” Keohane said. “Even understanding the mechanisms of how she can even be released.”

Bergin-August appeared in court wearing a black dress and a necklace with a cross symbol. She did not comment, but her lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., said she had spent much of the weekend thinking about Zepeda’s family.

“My client is devastated about this tragedy,” said Carney.

Police said that after Zepeda, 36, was hit, Bergin-August kept driving for nearly two blocks until another motorist, who had followed her honking, shouted for her to pull over her car.

During her arraignment last week, Carney said Bergin-August was not fleeing the scene, but looking for a safe place to pull over.

Bergin-August had previously been found responsible for five car crashes since 2005, according to driving records released by the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

According to the police report from the accident on Wednesday, Bergin-August had two bottles of the medication Clonazepam with her in her car, a Toyota sedan. One bottle was empty; the second contained 20 tablets. Bergin-August told police she takes the medication for Tourette Syndrome. The bottles were labeled “may cause drowsiness, use care using machines.”