BOSTON (WHDH) - Authorities say they have charged a Lawrence woman with drunken driving in connection with a fatal crash on I-495 that claimed the life of a tow truck driver.
Shiina Dionne, 28, of Lawrence was arraigned Friday from her hospital bed at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. She pleaded not guilty to charges of operating under the influence and motor vehicle homicide, among several other offenses.
Prosecutors told the judge that Dionne was drunk late Wednesday night when she plowed into 41-year-old Daniel Coady, who was responding to a two-car crash on the southbound side of the highway in Andover.
Coady was loading one of the vehicles involved in the original crash onto his flatbed when police say Dionne a struck a disabled vehicle, pushing it into him.
Coady, a resident of North Andover, was pronounced dead at the hospital. A second tow truck driver was injured.
Dionne suffered serious injuries in the crash and underwent surgery Thursday before state troopers arrested her at the hospital.
A judge set Dionne’s bail at $2,500. She was also ordered not to drive.
The crash remains under investigation. Coady leaves behind two sons. He is slated to be laid to rest next week.
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