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Police: Second OUI Drug Arrest For Man In Lynnfield Fatal

LYNNFIELD (CBS) -- State police say the driver who killed a taxi cab driver Friday night in Lynnfield had been charged with OUI drugs before.

William Halpin III, 25, of Melrose, is charged with motor vehicle homicide while under the influence; operating under the influence of drugs-second offense; possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute; speeding; and marked lanes violation. Police say he was under the influence of narcotics. They added that they found several small baggies containing what is believed to be marijuana that Halpin threw from his car after the crash.

Police say they got a call just after 8 p.m. Friday from a woman whose car had been hit on Route One in Lynnfield. Both the taxi and the Chevrolet Cobalt had pulled into the breakdown lane. While she was on the phone, the trooper could hear tires screeching and the phone went dead.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Doug Cope reports.

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When officers arrived on scene they found a man dead outside his taxi cab and an injured child inside the car that had initially been hit.

They say Halpin hit the Victor Vargas, 42, of Lynn, and the Cobalt. Vargas and the driver of the Cobalt had been standing outside the cars inspecting the damage. Vargas was taken to North Shore Medical Center-Lynn Union Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The six-year-old boy suffered a serious injury to his arm and shoulder when Halpin's car hit his, authorities said. Authorities said he was first taken to Lynn Union Hospital and then to Boston Children's Hospital.

Patricia Ediamen, 30, of North Andover, the driver of the Cobalt, along with the two other people in the Cobalt, a Framingham woman and a three-year-old boy, were not injured.

WBZ-TV's Alana Gomez reports.

Vargas' family says he has a 16-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son, and they are from the Dominican Republic. People at Garcia's Taxi of Lynn, the taxi company where Vargas worked, say Vargas was a hard worker who had been with the company for about three months.

Halpin was taken to State Police Barracks in Danvers and was expected to be transferred to the Essex County House of Correction Saturday. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Peabody District Court.

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