Monday, June 27, 2016

Male driver charged with driving drunk in crash that injured MassDOT worker




By Miguel Otarola and Dylan McGuinness Globe Correspondents June 27, 2016

A 59-year-old Boston man is being held on $25,000 bail after he allegedly drove, while drunk, into a state transportation worker at a Ted Williams Tunnel construction site early Monday morning, according to State Police and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

The worker was on foot doing maintenance work when the crash happened about 12:55 a.m. Carlos Gonzalez was allegedly behind the wheel of the 2009 Honda Civic that hit the man. The injuries suffered by the 60-year-old worker are not considered life-threatening, police said.

Gonzalez was arrested after a brief pursuit by deputy sheriffs from the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, State Police said.

Gonzalez was arraigned Monday in Boston Municipal Court. A prosecutor said Gonzalez had been drinking while watching the Copa America soccer game before he set out on the road.

According to a police report, surveillance video from the tunnel showed Gonzalez’s vehicle driving into a construction zone, toppling several traffic cones, and then hitting the worker before clipping a state vehicle. The Ted Williams Tunnel is part of the Massachusetts Turnpike.

After Gonzalez was stopped, he allegedly told police that he had two beers while watching the soccer game.

Once Gonzalez was in custody, State Police said, he spent an hour in a cell banging on a door and yelling at troopers. He allegedly called them “chickens,” insulted their intelligence, referred to them as “Nazis,” and used a racial epithet.

“I did nothing wrong,” Gonzalez said, according to the report. “Your wife looks like a toilet.”

Gonzalez’s next court date is July 22.

Gonzalez faced charges that included negligent operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor causing serious injury, operating under the influence of liquor causing serious injury, and leaving the scene of a personal injury crash, officials said.