DA identifies Mass. man killed in hit-and-run crash with suspect
The man who was killed in a hit-and-run crash with a suspect who was fleeing police in Stoughton Saturday afternoon has been identified as 84-year-old Stoughton resident John G. Smith, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office announced Sunday.
The suspect — 26-year-old Brockton resident Jason Ortiz — has been charged with motor vehicle homicide, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage and failure to stop for police, the district attorney’s office said previously.
Around 10:40 a.m. on Saturday, Brockton police tried to stop Ortiz while he was driving his pickup truck, the district attorney’s office said. They were responding to a report from dispatchers that the truck was “driving erratically,” Stoughton police said in a press release .
When Ortiz did not stop, officers pursued him into Stoughton, where his truck collided with a sedan at the intersection of Pleasant and Prospect streets, authorities said. Stoughton firefighters took Smith, who was driving the sedan, and a passenger, a 78-year-old Stoughton woman, to a local hospital.
Smith was later declared dead at the hospital, the district attorney’s office said. The woman was still being treated for injuries at the hospital as of Saturday evening.
After the crash, Ortiz and another man got out of the truck and ran from police, Stoughton police said. Stoughton officers quickly detained one of the men, and he was then transferred into Brockton police custody.
Authorities searched the area for Ortiz extensively, using K-9 units and the Massachusetts State Police Air Wing, Stoughton police said. Stoughton officers eventually arrested him at Halloran Park in Stoughton.
Ortiz is set to be arraigned in Stoughton District Court on Monday, the district attorney’s office said. The State Police crash reconstruction and crime scene services units, the district attorney’s office and Stoughton police are still investigating the crash, the district attorney’s office said.
It is unclear if the passenger in Ortiz’s pickup truck is facing charges. No further information about the crash has been released.
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