Friday, October 24, 2014

Friday Morning Bike Ride

I'm going to skip it and blog instead:

"Dorchester man convicted of motor vehicle homicide" by Nicole Dungca   and John R. Ellement | Globe Staff   October 16, 2014

A Dorchester man was convicted Thursday of felony motor vehicle homicide for striking and killing a bicyclist on William T. Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester in 2012. Doan Bui, 63, was on his way home from a night of fishing when he was killed.

After a weeklong trial and one day of deliberations, a Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted Michael D. Ahern, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office said. State troopers said Ahern, who was driving a Ford F-150 pickup truck, appeared to be under the influence when they spoke to him after the crash.

“Doan Bui’s only crime was to ride his bicycle home from a night of fishing,” Conley said in a statement, adding that Bui’s family was devastated by his death. “This case was important to us because they are people of humble means, immigrants with no connections and no one else to speak up for them. Mr. Bui’s death was a crime and the defendant had to be held accountable for it.”

The conviction comes as bicycle activists have been pushing for harsher penalties for drivers involved in fatal bike crashes. David Watson, the executive director of MassBike, applauded the prosecution of the case and said he hoped more drivers who hit and kill cyclists would be held accountable....

He pointed to other recent fatal crashes in which activists felt that charges should have been levied against drivers. In February, a grand jury declined to indict a truck driver who struck and killed Alexander Motsenigos, a Wellesley cyclist. Months later, another grand jury voted not to indict a garbage truck driver who fatally struck cyclist Owen McGrory in Charlestown.

And no charges have been filed in the death of Christopher Weigl, a 23-year-old Boston University cyclist who was killed in Allston in December 2012.

Watson said Ahern’s conviction could help influence drivers’ behavior on the road.

“Nothing sends a message more powerful than a conviction in a homicide case like this one,” Watson said.

I don't want to minimize the drunk-driving and death, but it was an accident, right? 

Anyone know where she is now?

Ahern is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 31 and faces at least one year and as many as 15 years in prison under state law. His defense attorney could not be reached for comment.

During the trial, jurors heard the 911 call that Ahern made following the crash on Sept. 14, 2012. Ahern, who had stayed at the scene, repeatedly told the 911 dispatcher that a man had pulled in front of him on the road.

“The guy is down,” he told the dispatcher. “I’m not sure he’s alive.”

Bui, a Dorchester resident, was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to court records, State Police crash scene investigators recovered the “black box’’ from Ahern’s truck and believed that he was travelling about 50 miles an hour just before he hit Bui near Malibu Beach. The speed limit there is 30 miles an hour, prosecutors said.

Bui was heading home from a night of fishing and was legally riding in the right hand lane of the multi-lane boulevard when he was struck, prosecutors said.

Ahern told State Police that he may have had one beer, but investigators learned that he had started drinking around 5 p.m. at the Sel de la Terre on Boylston Street.

Around 9 p.m., he went to the Slate Restaurant, which he then co-owned, and where he was seen drinking champagne with a bartender, prosecutors said.

After the crash, Ahern was taken to a hospital for treatment before troopers could administer a chemical breath test for sobriety. At the hospital, Ahern refused a doctor’s request to provide a blood sample for medical reasons, prosecutors said.

According to state troopers, Ahern slurred his words, was unsteady on his feet, and emitted an odor of alcohol, prosecutors said in court papers.

Ahern, 48, has been free on $25,000 bail since the crash, according to court records.

Superior Court Judge Christopher Muse on Thursday ordered Ahern to surrender his passport.

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RelatedPolice seek driver in crash with bicyclist

Also see: Bicycle Bomb Found on Commonwealth Avenue 

Looks like you've been Giloolied.