The driver, Patrick Fay, 24, [Holbrook] has been charged with drunk driving, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident after causing personal injury, speeding and failure to stay within marked lanes.
The media focused on the smoking ban in a carefully planned sleight of hand.
From CCT:
Underage West Barnstable resident, Tara L. Tobin, 20, arrested for OUI.
Mug Shot
Unable to stop the flood of DUIs originating from the Connecticut casinos, as reported here from the Spectrum Gaming Report: Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods: DUIs Governor M. Jodi Rell proposed to extend alcohol service to 24/7/365 to raise $5 million, until --
Conn. ended push for 24-hour bars at casinos after crash
State had hoped to collect more slot machine profits
DRIVER CHARGED
A sailor, Daniel E. Musser, 24, is charged with manslaughter and driving under the influence and faces up to 19 years in prison.
By Gregory B. Hladky
Globe Correspondent / March 22, 2009
HARTFORD - Officials looking to help solve Connecticut's multibillion-dollar deficit thought they had found an easy way to raise another $5 million a year: allow casinos to serve alcohol 24 hours a day.
A sailor, Daniel E. Musser, 24, is charged with manslaughter and driving under the influence and faces up to 19 years in prison.
DRIVER CHARGED
More hours of bar service would mean more gambling, they figured, which would mean the state could collect more slot machine profits.
But the proposal by Governor M. Jodi Rell's administration came to a sudden end at about 3:30 a.m. on March 7, when a car leaving the Mohegan Sun casino turned the wrong way down Interstate 395, headlights off, and slammed into a van full of college students on their way to Logan International Airport. They were scheduled for a flight to Uganda, where they had plans to help out at an orphan age over spring break.
Elizabeth Durante, a 20-year-old pre-med student at Connecticut College in New London, was killed.
The car's driver, Daniel E. Musser, 24, a sailor from the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, was charged with manslaughter and driving under the influence and faces up to 19 years in prison.
The next day, Rell called Durante's death "an unconscionable tragedy" and pulled back her budget proposal to make alcohol available 24 hours at the casinos.
"Even though this accident occurred under the laws as they have been for many years, the governor said it does give one pause to question the wisdom of extending liquor service hours at the casinos," Christopher Cooper, Rell spokesman, said recently. "We don't believe the bill is going to move forward this session."
Chuck Bunnell, chief of staff for the Mohegan Tribal Council, agreed.
"The Tribal Council in general has taken the position that it's time to pause and mourn the loss of this very bright light of humanity," Bunnell said, "that it's not appropriate to have those discussions right now."
Bunnell said the tribe was originally "approached on a bipartisan basis" by lawmakers looking for ways to increase state revenue.
Lori A. Potter, a spokeswoman for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, said analysts at the tribe's Foxwoods Resort Casino stand by their prediction that extending casino bar hours would result in an increase in state revenue.
"It is important to note that it would be impossible to find a more heavily regulated serving establishment in the state of Connecticut than the two casinos," Potter said.
Connecticut law requires the casinos' bars to stop serving by 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and by 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. One of the arguments originally used in favor of allowing longer serving hours was that their competitors in Atlantic City serve alcohol 24 hours a day. ["The everyone else is doing it" argument that you wouldn't accept from your teenager!]
Legal hours for bars to serve alcohol vary greatly across the United States, according to Steven Schmidt, vice president for public policy at the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association.
In Massachusetts, for example, state law allows service until 11 p.m., but local governing bodies can extend the hours to 2 a.m. In states such as New Jersey and Nevada, Schmidt said, local authorities are allowed to set bar closing hours.
Charles H. Gartman, one of the students with Durante in the van that night, has difficulty understanding why anyone thought round-the-clock liquor at the casinos was a good idea.
"Twenty-four-hour bar service is a little bit ridiculous," Gartman said last week in a phone interview from his New York City home. "You can't trust everyone to drink and drive safely."
Gartman, 19 and a sophomore at Connecticut College, has not yet recovered from injuries he suffered in the crash.
The five other passengers also suffered injuries, some minor.
"Both my legs were pretty banged up, and at first I couldn't walk," he said. "I have pretty severe lacerations on my chin."
Nor has he recovered from the loss of Durante, of West Islip, N.Y. Gartman said it was Durante who got him interested in going to Uganda to aid orphaned children. "It was her enthusiasm for helping people," he recalled.
Stephanie Hinman, who was Durante's roommate and one of the students on the Uganda trip, finds it ironic that her friend would die at the hands of an accused drunk driver.
"Neither Liz nor I ever drank," Hinman said from her home in Norfolk, Conn.
"We lived together in the substance-free dorm."
In a 2007 interview with a college publication, Durante said she wanted to become a surgeon and work in Africa with Doctors Without Borders.
For Janice Heggie Margolis, executive director of the Connecticut chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Durante's death provided tragic evidence of why casino liquor hours should never be expanded.
She said the potential price to society of more fatal crashes is simply too high, no matter how much money might flow to the state. "This is exactly the reason why," Heggie Margolis said.
"You can never put on paper the cost of a life."
Nicole McArdle, 29, of Stoughton was arrested after rear-ending a stopped vehicle about 11:14 p.m. Thursday. She was arrested and charged by police with drunken driving and following another car too closely
A family tragedy, its toll multiplied
Drunken driving charged in woman’s death
In the moments after he allegedly struck Cynthia Ray with his 2010 Chevrolet Silverado, Robert V. Bryant, 50, the chief operating officer of a computer software company, reportedly asked a state trooper, “Did I hit somebody? A pedestrian? I don’t remember doing that.’’ At the time, the resident of Haverhill’s Bradford neighborhood was being given a field sobriety test, which State Police say he failed.
Holbrook woman charged with drunken driving after Randolph hit-and-run
A Holbrook woman allegedly involved in a hit-and-run accident was charged with drunken driving after the driver of the other car followed her and called the police.
Patricia Madden, 51, was arrested Friday evening after a man told police that she struck his vehicle in Randolph then left without stopping.
Raynham man arrested on 5th DUI held without bail
Scott M. Williams of 181 King Philip St., Raynham, was arrested on Sunday, Dec. 5 in the Bob’s Parking Lot on South Street West near Route 44 at around 1 a.m. on charges of drunk driving fifth subsequent offense, negligent driving, driving with a revoked license and refusing to identify himself.
From CCT:
On Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 10:01 p.m., David S. White, 43, of Provincetown, was arrested by Officer Jeremiah Valli on Route 6 in Truro and charged with OUI Liquor, Marked Lane Violation, Speeding and Negligent Operation of a Motor Vehicle.
Route 24 crash victim was drunk, state police say
Guerlein Guerrier, 25, was critically injured in a Dec. 11 crash that also injured two children, ages 8 and 9, who were in the backseat of her 1999 Chevrolet Prizm. The crash happened about 11:13 a.m., bringing traffic to a standstill on Route 24 southbound near Exit 18A.
Guerrier has since been summonsed to court for a host of charges, including drunken driving, child endangerment, drunken driving in a crash that resulted in serious injuries and reckless operation of a motor vehicle, said State Police Sgt. Michael Popovics.
What we know is:
Drunken Driving Fatalities and Accidents Increase: Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have at least 50% more OUI arrests than any other State Police troop in CT. Drunken driving related fatalities almost doubled in the area during 2009 vs. 2008 because the casino revenue to the state decreased leading to budget cuts in police force.
Before “Happy Hours” were outlawed in Massachusetts in 1984, there were 411 drunken driving related fatalities compared to only 151 in 2008.
Casinos will have Happy Hours 24/7/365!!!
Mass. driver faces 11th alcohol-related charge, police say
Vernon Perry, 52, refused a breath test after he was taken into custody, Seekonk police Captain Craig Mace said yesterday.
Beacon Hill presented legislation crafted by the Industry behind closed doors, carefully excluding opponents.
When police stopped Gayle Drummond’s car, they said she was drunk and without pants, driving with a Dunkin’ Donuts cup full of beer in the cup holder and her 4-month-old baby in the back seat.
The infant was wearing a urine-soaked onesie with no diaper, and bottles of beer and liquor littered the car, police added.
Drummond, 37, of 38 Duncan Drive, Norwell, was arrested and charged with third-offense drunken driving, driving to endanger, child endangerment while driving drunk and having an open container of alcohol in her car.
Senator Rosenberg and others publicly proclaimed "We'll get it right," even though 17 pages of 'errata' were included in the final product.
Chelsea man charged in fatal hit and run
A Chelsea man was arrested last night and charged in the hit-and-run death of another man in that city last month, authorities said.
Luis Gabriel Escalante, 22, was apprehended in Chelsea and is being charged with felony motor vehicle homicide, leaving the scene of an accident causing death, and operating under the influence, according to the office of Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. Escalante is scheduled to be arraigned today in Chelsea District Court.
Yarmouth Police arrest intoxicated woman found stumbling down Route 28...Kimberly A. Nicolazzo, 35, of Saugus, MA, was uncooperative and verbally abusive when taken into custody...
It's time to pause, open up the process to a transparent discussion about costs and impacts.
GAVELL, Michael F, 40, 32 Shore Drive, Forestdale; operating with a suspended license for OUI/CDL, January 28 in Barnstable. Pretrial conference scheduled for February 28.
PERRY, Jordan C, 19, 51 John Ewer Rd, Sandwich; operating under the influence, marked lanes violation January 31 in Yarmouth. Pretrial conference scheduled for March 7.
MULLANY, William J; Operating under the influence of liquor, admitted to sufficient facts; unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, dismissed. Continued for payment until January 26, 2012.
CROCKER, Amy E; Operating under the influence of liquor, marked lanes violation. Admitted to sufficient facts. Continued without a finding, continued for payment until January 27, 2012.
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