Posted on 05/18/2009 9:52:52 AM PDT by raccoonradio
A Saugus High School senior is being held on $7,500 bail today after prosecutors allege he drank 10 beers prom night then crashed his car the next morning killing a 67-year-old woman and injuring her daughter.
Jonathan Caruso, 18, pleaded innocent in Lynn District Court today to charges relating to Saturday morning’s tragic crash.
Prosecutor Christina Ronan said police arrived to a horrific scene: “Officers could also hear and see a woman crying in pain,” she said.
Caruso is charged with motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation, drunken driving and a minor transporting alcohol.
The prosecutor requested $20,000 bail, but defense attorney James McCall requested a bail Caruso’s family could afford.
If Caruso posts bail, he is required to wear a monitoring bracelet that will also test for his blood-alcohol level.
Ronan said a young woman believed to be the defendant’s girlfriend said at the scene of the crash: “We killed that person. We want to take full responsibility.”
Ronan also said in court today that Caruso was overheard by police saying at the scene “he should not have been driving after drinking” and that he must have fallen asleep behind the wheel and only remembers crashing into a stop sign.
The prosecutor added that when the defendant was asked how many drinks he had, he told them he was “celebrating prom and drank 10 beers earlier.” Caruso also had a “heavy smell” of alcohol at the crash scene and his blood-alcohol level was .02 at 9 a.m., according to court testimony.
The accident occurred at 7:30 a.m. Saturday at Essex and Grove streets in Saugus. Caruso had his last drink at 6 a.m., Ronan said.
“The party should have ended at 4 a.m. when school-sponsored activities ended,” the prosecutor said.
A woman believed to be the teen’s mother was in court and sobbed as the details of the tragic crash were spelled out.
Authorities say Caruso hit both Charlotte Marean, 41, and Carol Marean, 67. The older woman was killed and her daughter critically injured.
They were walking their dog Happy when they were hit by a Chevy sedan being driven by Caruso, police said.
Two other teens were also in the car, police said.
Caruso, his lawyer said, lives with his mother and grandparents in Saugus and was set to graduate May 30.
The young man had attended his school’s senior prom Friday night at the Danversport Yacht Club and then was part of a chaperoned cruise of Boston Harbor. Teens were bused back to Saugus at 4 a.m.
The Essex prosecutor added that police found four beer cans in Caruso’s car at the scene of the crash.
I think you don’t go from drunk to sober in 1.5 hours, but I can personally attest (many years ago and the statute of limitations has long since run!) that you can indeed go from sober to drunk in that amount of time. But yes, there’s a pretty reliable algorithm that will calculate BAC backwards. I think his biggest problem will be that he admitted having 10 beers. That’s a bunch, and he’s a minor.
Colonel, USAFR
Four beer cans in the trunk.
He blew a .02
My guess is they will get him vehicular homicide, but the DWI is on shaky ground.
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