Man Charged With OUI, Hitting MassDOT Worker Held On $25K Bail
BOSTON (CBS) -- A man charged with striking a MassDOT worker while driving drunk just outside the Ted Williams Tunnel was arraigned Monday morning.
Carlos Gonzalez, 59, of Boston, is charged with operating under the influence of liquor causing serious injury, leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, negligent operation in a construction zone, and marked lane violation. He was ordered held on $25,000 bail Monday.
State Police said Gonzalez struck Dennis McNeil, 60, a MassDOT employee who was working in an active construction zone, around 12:52 a.m. Monday on I-90 westbound before Exit 24. They said he fled the scene in his 2009 Honda Civic after striking the worker. He was chased down and pulled over near the Congress Street Exit by a member of the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department and arrested.
McNeil, who was conscious and alert but in pain when officers arrived, was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. According to a MassDOT spokesperson, he is expected to be released from the hospital sometime this week. They said that video would not yet be released, as the investigation into the crash was ongoing.
Prosecutors said that, when officers asked Gonzalez why he fled, he told them he didn't know what they were talking about. They say he told officers he drank two beers that night while watching the Copa América soccer match, and that he was a "good guy" and did nothing wrong. They said officers observed that Gonzalez's pants were unbuttoned and appeared to be wet.
Officers detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle and from Gonzalez, and ordered him to perform a series of field sobriety tests, which he failed. Prosecutors said that, when officers told Gonzalez they were arresting him, he replied, "Whatever," and that he was loud and disruptive during the ride to the station.
At the station, Prosecutors said, Gonzalez agreed to a breathalyzer test, but the test was marked as a refusal because Gonzalez only pretended to blow into the breathalyzer.
Prosecutors said that, while in his cell, Gonzalez shouted that officers were "chickens," "Nazis," "stupid," and that their wives "looked like toilets."
In court Monday, Gonzalez was ordered through a Spanish interpreter not to drive a vehicle or drink any alcohol, and to submit to random alcohol screenings.
He is due back in court July 22.
