Jennings asked the witness if he had been drinking before coming to court and if a member of the district attorney’s office had smelled alcohol on his breath Wednesday.
SPRINGFIELD – Two passengers in Tiffany Renardson’s car testified she slammed on her brakes before colliding with an overturned vehicle on Lincoln Street in Holyoke in a chain reaction accident that killed a neighbor in 2011.
Taking the witness stand in Hampden Superior Court, two cousins - Alex and Noah Stasinos, both of Holyoke - contradicted testimony from previous witnesses that Renardson never slowed down before crashing into the 2003 Honda owned by Maureen Healy, who is standing trial for vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol.
“Tiffany slammed on her brake and we slid - it seemed,” said Alex Stasinos, who was Renardson’s boyfriend at the time. “She broke and then, like 5 seconds after that, we hit,” he says.
Healy, a records clerk for the Holyoke Police Department, was charged following the double crash on June 4, 2011 which left Thomas Monahan, 53, of 144 Lincoln St., fatally injured.
Monahan and several neighbors ran outside after help Healy after she slammed her car into a parked SUV while driving home from the Sand Castle bar. After extracting Healy from her overturned vehicle, Monahan suffered head injuries when Renardson’s car slammed into Healy’s.
Renardson, 24, was charged with negligent motor vehicle homicide, but the case was dropped following completion of a state police accident report.
A neighbor, Rachael Smith, of 142 Lincoln St., took the stand Thursday and recalled seeing a woman standing in the road, holding a flashlight and shouting “stop, stop” as Renardson’s car approached.
Renardson was expected to testify Thursday, but was not called. While Superior Court Judge Tina S. Page, Assistant District Attorney James M. Forsyth and defense lawyer Michael O. Jennings discussed the possibility of Renardson’s testimony during a closed-door session, it remains unclear if she will testify later in the week-long trial.
The Stasinos cousins, meanwhile, offered conflicting accounts of their activity before the crash. Noah Stasinos said he, his cousin and Renardson spent 2 or 3 hours at the Sand Piper, listing to friends playing in a band.
But Alex Stasinos estimated the Sand Piper visit lasted 35 minutes; neither cousin recalled seeing Renardson drinking in the bar, but acknowledged they were not with her the entire time.
The cousins – who were both under the legal drinking age at the time - were granted immunity after refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating Monahan’s death. During his testimony, Alex Stasinos tangled with Jennings, who repeatedly challenged his description of events at the Sand Castle and on Lincoln Street.
“You know you can only be prosecuted if you don’t tell the truth?,” Jennings said.”Yeah, absolutely,” he replies.
Later, Jennings asked the witness if he had been drinking before coming to court and whether a member of the district attorney’s office had smelled alcohol on his breath Wednesday.
“No,” he replied.
Another witness, Rachael Smith, of 142 Lincoln St., took the stand Thursday and recalled seeing a woman standing in the road, holding a flashlight and shouting “stop, stop” as Renardson’s car approached.
State trooper David Sanford also testified that there was no skid marks or other evidence that Renardson had slammed on her brakes before the crash.
Testing showed Renardson was traveling at 35 mph, the speed limit on Lincoln Street, when she collided with Healy’s car, Sanford said.