Police: Methuen teen tried to cover up hit-run

LOWELL — A Methuen teen, who police said took off after she hit a 12-year-old boy in a Lowell crosswalk, leaving him for dead, then tried to cover up the accident, could face up to two years in jail.

Police say Michelle P. Medeiros, 17, of 14 Bernard Lane, Methuen, never stopped after hitting the boy Wednesday afternoon. Instead, she drove to a Lawrence hair salon, got her hair done and then called police to report her blue Acura had been vandalized.

"This is not a case of the operator having a consciousness of guilt and coming forward," Lowell police Det. Tim Crowley said at a press conference yesterday. "She continued on with her life. ... She went back to school the next day."

Crowley said Medeiros only fessed up after a Lawrence officer contacted Lowell police after noticing that teen's damaged car matched the description of the one they were looking for.

Lowell police have charged Medeiros with leaving the scene of an accident. And they say more charges could be on the way as the investigation continues. Her license has been revoked.

"The investigation is not complete," Lowell police Deputy Chief Arthur Ryan said. "We expect additional charges to be pursued."

Police say Medeiros, a Methuen High School senior, was in Lowell visiting the University of Massachusetts campus.

She was on her way back to Lawrence and in a rush when they say she hit Kelvin Savanhmixay, throwing him about 20 feet in the air in the intersection of Mammoth Road and Route 113 at 2:30 p.m. Another car had stopped to let Savanhmixay cross the street and Mederios allegedly passed that car.

The sixth-grader is being treated in Children's Hospital in Boston for internal injuries.

"(Medeiros) said she didn't realize what she hit," Crowley told reporters. "She heard something and saw something hit her windshield."

When a reporter asked Crowley how she couldn't have known she hit a person, Crowley only shook his head side to side.

Medeiros' car sustained a broken bumper and showed a large depression in the windshield next to the driver's side door post.

Crowley said Medeiros tried to cover up the damage to her car by filing a false police report in Lawrence two hours later. And that's what led police right to her.

Medeiros called Lawrence police around 4:16 p.m. Wednesday to report her vehicle was damaged while parked around the corner from the hair salon she was visiting.

Lawrence Officer Adam Goujon later remembered the report when he heard a regional police radio broadcast seeking the whereabouts of the car, and relayed the information to Lowell.

Crowley contacted Medeiros' father, the car's owner, Thursday. The father told him the car was at a body shop on French Street in Methuen.

Crowley drove to the Best Body Shop, and working with Lawrence and Methuen police identified the car as the one witnesses had described. It already had an estimate for the damage on the dashboard.

"I feel horrible. I hope he's doing OK. I hope his family is OK," she told a news station. "I just heard something hit my windshield and I panicked. And I took off."

"Once we became aware of the vehicle's whereabouts, we notified the family. It was only at that time things started to move forward," he said.

Police could not arrest Medeiros. Leaving the scene of an accident is a misdemeanor. It would only become a felony if the victim died.

"It's frustrating to you in the public and the Police Department," Ryan said. "Some of these incidents really do require a little more emphasis than a motor vehicle citation and hearing in court."

Police are asking the driver of a black coupe that was spotted behind Medeiros' vehicle at the scene to come forward.

Police say the operator of the vehicle, described as a man in his teens or early 20s, stopped and waved down a nearby ambulance that was in traffic. Ryan said his actions may have saved Savanhmixay's life.

"We do not believe this vehicle nor the operator was a part of this incident," Ryan said. "He's simply a witness that we believe can provide us with some further details."

Lawrence police Chief John Romero said Medeiros could be charged with filing a false police report with his department. "I guess we have to look at it," he said.

Honesty is the best policy, young lady.

Don't know what kind of parent her dad is but perhaps, to paraphrase the Beach Boys, she had "fun fun fun till Daddy took the Acura away..."

>>she drove to a Lawrence hair salon, got her hair done

She's got her priorities

>>and then called police to report her blue Acura had been vandalized.

The car got...vandalized! Yeah, that's the ticket...

>>Her license has been revoked.

Whew! You never know, in this state...

>>only fessed up after a Lawrence officer contacted Lowell police after noticing that teen’s damaged car matched the description of the one they were looking for.

Curses! Foiled!

>>In media reports, Medeiros said she turned herself in.

>>Crowley said that wasn’t the case.
“Once we became aware of the vehicle’s whereabouts, we notified the family. It was only at that time things started to move forward,” he said.

Conflicting reports here...she’s CYA-ing

STUNNED: Danny Savanhmixay, above, holds a picture of his stepson, 12-year-old Kelvin, a sixthgrader at the Kathryn P. Stoklosa Middle School in Lowell, who was struck by a vehicle that ran a red light Wednesday afternoon.

From the Boston Herald:
The hairdresser who coiffed the tresses of accused hit-and-run driver Michelle P. Medeiros said the teen was “calm” during the appointment to which she drove after nearly killing a 12-year-old boy in Lowell.

“I am shaking,” said stylist Maria Parreira, 54, when told by the Herald that her client was the alleged hit-and-run driver. “She was very calm.” Savanhmixay’s stepfather, Danny, 36, was stunned Medeiros went to a hair appointment after allegedly hitting Kelvin.

“I’m still in disbelief. That’s got to be a joke. If anything, go and hide. Don’t go to the salon and do your hair,” he said. “What human being would do something like that?”

Medeiros, a Methuen High School student, only came forward after the Lawrence police officer who took the report about her vandalized Honda Acura told Lowell cops he had seen a car similar to the one that had been described in the hit-and-run accident, cops said.

Police said Medeiros told them she saw a backpack and thought she hit something, but didn’t know what she hit.

This is unbelieveable. I can’t imagine not stopping and offering aid. What a totally morally bankrupt person she is. My prayers are going up for little Kelvin.

Having said that, and at the cost of being totally insensitive, how in the world do you pronounce Kelvin’s last name?

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