Driver Sentenced To Year In Prison For Horrific 2013 Arborway Crash
BOSTON (CBS) — A young man convicted last month of causing a devastating crash on the Arborway in Jamaica Plain was sentenced to serve a year in prison Wednesday.
Twenty-year-old Nikolas Papadopoulos was found guilty in January of negligent operation of a motor vehicle in the September 6, 2013 crash that seriously injured two people.
He was facing up to two years in prison. Papadopoulos's sentence will be followed by five years of probation and 2,000 hours of community service. He will also not be able to get his driver's license back until 2021.
Papadopoulos was 18 years old when he was speeding on the Arborway and slammed his SUV into an oncoming pickup truck.
The pickup driver, Kevin Cellucci, now 34, of Dorchester, was left with a severe traumatic brain injury.
Brother of Kevin Cellucci: Kevin awake with eyes open but not kind of awake you can imagine. #wbz
— Beth Germano (@BethWBZ) February 3, 2016
A passenger in Papadopoulos' SUV, Mark Delamere, now 17, was paralyzed.
Papadopoulos initially agreed to plead guilty, but changed his mind when a judge said he would face a year in jail.
Nikolas Pappadopoulos takes stand: I'm truly sorry all affected by accident. Never wanted anyone to get hurt by my actions.#wbz
— Beth Germano (@BethWBZ) February 3, 2016
At his sentencing in Brighton District Court Wednesday, Papadoppulos said he would never have intentionally put anyone's life in danger, but he knows he must accept responsibility for the crash.
Pappadopoulos says he wants to take responsibility by helping those involved in similar tragic accidents. #wbz
— Beth Germano (@BethWBZ) February 3, 2016
Kevin Cellucci was in court for the sentencing.
His attorney Shawn O'Rourke says the balance of Cellucci's life will be spent in a rehabilitation hospital.
"He has a lifetime of this and, if you saw him in the courtroom, his condition is permanent. He will never go home to his wife and kids," O'Rourke told WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
"It was a very difficult case and horrible for everybody involved, but the sentences that are imposed on Kevin Cellucci and Mark Delamere are life sentences."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karen Twomey reports