Driver Arraigned After Crashing Into MBTA Bus Has Past OUI Convictions

QUINCY (CBS) – A Franklin man arraigned Wednesday on charges he was high when he crashed his car head on into an MBTA bus in Randolph on Tuesday morning has a history of OUI convictions.

More than 30 people were on board the bus and more than a dozen including the driver suffered neck or back injuries in the accident on North Main Street in Randolph.

At 30-year-old Stephen Griswold's arraignment in Quincy District Court prosecutors said he told police he had a headache while he was driving and blacked out before hitting the bus.

Witnesses said Griswold was swerving all over the road in the minutes before he crossed the center line and slammed his blue Ford 500 into the Route 240 MBTA bus.

Griswold told police he was coming from a pre-employment drug tests when he hit the bus. Among the pill bottles police say they seized from his car was one filled with hydrocodone, which Griswold said was prescribed for him.

Police said they also found acetaminophen and penicillin, a combination the suspect's lawyer says he was taking to combat infected wisdom teeth.

Griswold has a history of driving infractions. He has two convictions for operating under the influence and a handful of accidents he caused that got his license revoked for three years, according to prosecutors.

His father came to his defense saying outside the courtroom that Griswold had fallen asleep behind the wheel Tuesday.

But some witnesses said that when Griswold got out of his wrecked car he quickly asked if any lawyers might have an office nearby and then ditched some pills inside a store.

The judge ordered Griswold held on $5,000 cash bail for both OUI and negligent driving in the crash. If he makes bail he'll face random drug testing and will not be allowed to drive.

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