Charges of Leaving the Scene of an Accident With Property Damage and Minor in Possession of Alcohol do Not Issue After Clerk Magistrate Hearing

In February of this year members of a suburban Boston police department were called about a serious accident involving a jeep. The officers arrived to the vehicle flipped on its roof. The driver was nowhere to be seen. The police also located a bottle of alcoholic seltzer unopened in the vehicle. About one half hour later the police received a call from the driver identifying himself and the vehicle. The officers met with the driver, a local high school student. After he admitted to driving and leaving the scene he received a summons for a clerk’s hearing charging him with leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, G.L. c. 90 section 24 and minor in possession of alcohol, G.L. c. 138 section 34C. Attorney Neyman was hired. We convinced the magistrate the probable cause was not met on the first count in that the defendant did in fact identify himself and that the damage to the vehicle was to his own vehicle and no one else’s. The magistrate agreed not to issue the complaint on the second count either recognizing the difficulty of proving these charges against our client. 

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