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Arraignment postponed in Danvers elderly driver crash

E-mail|Link|Comments () October 14, 2009 01:51 PM

By Brian Benson, Globe Correspondent

The arraignment of an elderly Peabody man accused of crashing his car into a Danvers Wal-Mart, injuring a mother and her baby, was postponed Wednesday after the defendant and his attorney did not receive a summons.

Louis Vesprini, 93, faces one count of negligent operation of a motor vehicle stemming from the June 2 incident.

“When I receive a summons and my client receives a summons we will appear in court,” said Paul F. Markham, a Melrose lawyer representing Vesprini, in a telephone interview.

Markham declined to discuss specifics of the case until it is presented in court.

According to a police report included in court records, Vesprini was looking for a parking space when he drove through two red posts into the Wal-Mart’s exit door, striking a mother pushing her 1-year-old baby in a carriage.

“I must have hit the gas pedal by mistake,” Vesprini said to officers at the scene, according to the report.

The mother suffered minor injuries while her baby had a fractured skull and jaw and underwent surgery two days after the accident.

The arraignment was rescheduled for Oct. 22 at 9 a.m., according to the Salem District Court clerk’s office.