Driver In Fatal Wareham Wheelchair Crash Held On $20,000 Bail
WAREHAM, Mass. (AP) — A Middleborough man charged with driving drunk when he struck and killed a Wareham man in a wheelchair was ordered held on $20,000 bail at his arraignment Wednesday.
A lawyer for John Vandeusen, 28, entered pleas of not guilty on his client's behalf to several charges in Wareham District Court, including drunken driving and motor vehicle homicide.
Vandeusen struck Joshua Macro, 24, with his pickup truck in the Onset section of town at about 1 a.m. Saturday, prosecutors said. The impact threw Macro from his wheelchair, which split in two, prosecutors said. Macro was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Vandeusen failed three field sobriety tests and had a blood alcohol content of more than twice the legal limit, prosecutors said.
Vandeusen is an employed, law-abiding citizen who stopped and helped look for Macro, his defense attorney said.
Macro and his roommate, Ryan Santos, had been returning home after playing pool, Santos said. Santos was on foot, and both men were in a bicycle lane, he said.
Santos says Vandeusen was crying during the search. He is due back in court July 7.
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