LOWELL, MASS. (WHDH) - Police made an arrest Tuesday in connection to a deadly hit and run in Lowell Thursday.
Officers arrested Channa Sath, 44 of Lowell. She is charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing death.
Sath was arraigned Tuesday morning in Lowell District Court. It was revealed she was leaving a Halloween party where she consumed two to three cocktails when police said she slammed into the victim.
Surveillance video from a nearby shopping plaza captured the driver speeding on Chelmsford Street just before midnight when the SUV hit a woman with a shopping carriage who was crossing the street, throwing her into a driveway. It shows the SUV failed to stop or even slow down as it continued Southbound in the pouring rain.
“That victim, no matter who, we can not leave alone. You cause an accident, stop and help,” said Dimitrios Mattheos, the owner of the Lowell shopping plaza which caught the crash on video. “I feel very sorry for the person who eventually died and we should not allow these accidents to be happening everyday.”
Police said pieces of the car found at the scene and security video of the car’s route helped them to identify and find Sath.
The victim was identified as 72-year-old Helene Renaud of Lowell.
Paramedics arrived at the scene within minutes, but police said Renaud was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Police said when they questioned Sath, she said she thought she hit a concrete barrier.
“The defendant, herself, stated to the police that she did not report the incident because she was afraid,” said Edward Kim, a prosecutor. “Even after going down to the scene and observing that there was no conrete barrier that she allegedly, herself, crashed into.”
Danielle Feman, Sath’s defense attorney, said her client is an upstanding citizen. After police reached out to Sath, Feman said she immediately turned herself in.
This is someone who for the last nine years has worked at Lowell Health Center giving back to the community,” said Feman. “She showed up at court. She’s not running from this, she could’ve fled, she could’ve left town. She could’ve, when they looked for her, disappeared. But she did not.”
Sath was released and ordered to turn over her passport. A judge also ruled she cannot drive, drink, and must have continuous alcohol monitoring.
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