High-speed chase leaves 1 dead, woman in coma
Two vehicles raced through Dorchester
China White, 10, told her 18-year-old aunt,
"She told my daughter not to let the other girl drive. But my daughter did it anyway," said Sharon Powell, the mother of Hubbard and great-aunt of White. "She must have sensed something."
Moments after White issued her warning, Hubbard was dead.
She was killed when the car she was riding in crashed into a tree on the median strip of Blue Hill Avenue near Callender Street, after it was chased by a sport utility vehicle at high speeds through Dorchester streets. The chase might have been an act of domestic violence or road rage, authorities said. Hubbard was pronounced dead at the site of the crash.
The woman who was driving Hubbard's car, whose name was not released by police, was pulled from the mangled wreck and is in a medically induced coma at a Boston hospital, officials said. The driver's 8-month-old daughter, who was in child safety seat, was thrown from the car and flew 30 feet through the air, but survived. She was in stable condition at Children's Hospital Boston, officials said.
White sustained leg injuries and was able to talk briefly to Powell and to police, who are still trying to piece together how Hubbard's car became entangled with the SUV, which was allegedly driven by a Dorchester man with a history of domestic violence.
The man, Jason C. Bailey, was arraigned in Dorchester Municipal Court on charges of motor vehicle homicide, drunk driving, and three counts of leaving the scene after causing personal injury and one count of leaving the scene after causing a death.
Bailey, 28, pleaded not guilty and bail was set at $100,000 cash.
According to Suffolk Assistant District Attorney John E. Powers III and relatives and friends of the victim, the two women and two children were in Hubbard's car when they stopped to get gas at a Dorchester station. There, an altercation broke out, allegedly between Bailey and Hubbard's friend.
" 'The scary man in the white van was yelling at us,' " Powers quoted White telling police.
Powers said the women and children drove off, but were pursued by the vehicle allegedly being driven by Bailey. " 'The scary man followed us,' " Powers quoted the girl as saying.
Powers said a police officer driving northbound on Blue Hill Avenue shortly before 3 a.m. saw Hubbard's car being chased by the SUV at a high speed. At times, the SUV hit the rear bumper of the smaller car, he said.
The two vehicles made an illegal U-turn at the intersection of Morton Street and Blue Hill Avenue, and the chase continued, with a police cruiser following, Powers said. Both vehicles moved to the right to avoid traffic, and Hubbard's car brushed the curb on the right side of the road, sending sparks skyward, Powers said.
The vehicle went into a sideways skid, careened into a light pole and then smashed into a tree in the median strip, Powers said. Hubbard was thrown from the car.
Bailey was stopped a short distance away by another officer, he said.
In court, Bailey's lawyer, John Hayes, said police failed to provide evidence that he was drunk or involved in the crash. Hayes said the SUV involved had no dents or scratches on its bumper.
Powell owns Professional Image, a hair salon on Blue Hill Avenue near Morton Street, and yesterday the salon was filled with co-workers who were weeping over the sudden death of her teenage daughter. Powell said she is originally from Chicago and that her daughter had spent time alternating between the two cities over the past several years.
"I am not mad at anyone," she said at the courthouse. "I think both drivers were irresponsible."
John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. 
