The identity of a 55-year-old Westfield woman, killed after a stolen car driven Mark Perez, 25, of 25 Narraganset St. collided with her car, won't be revealed until her family is fully notified, according to Springfield Police Sgt. John Delaney.
Mark Perez, 25, of 25 Narraganset St., Springfield, is facing numerous charges in connection with a fatal car crash Saturday in the city's North End. Perez was driving a stolen vehicle at the time of a collision that killed a 55-year-old Westfield woman, police said.
Updates story published at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, March 30.
SPRINGFIELD — Police have arrested a city man in connection with a fatal hit-and-run crash in the North End just after 10 a.m. Saturday.
Police said Mark A. Perez, 25, of 25 Narraganset St. will be arraigned Monday in Springfield District Court on several charges, including auto theft, marijuana possession with intent to distribute and leaving the scene of a fatal car crash. Perez was driving a stolen vehicle and may face additional charges, police said.
Authorities have yet to publicly identify the 55-year-old Westfield woman killed in the crash. The woman, a passenger in a 1999 Pontiac Sunfire driven by her 59-year-old husband, was rushed to nearby Baystate Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead from her injuries, according to Springfield Police Sgt. John M. Delaney, a spokesman for Commissioner William J. Fitchet.
The woman's identity will not be revealed until police are sure "all her relatives have been notified," Delaney said. Her name likely won't be released until Monday, he said.
An update on her husband's condition was not immediately available.
At 10:06 a.m., a patrol officer reported seeing Perez driving a white Jeep Cherokee the wrong way on Main Street near Patton Street. Perez was driving southbound in the northbound lane at an "extremely high rate of speed," Delaney said.
Police said Perez then made his way to Chestnut and Carew streets, where he collided with the Pontiac and kept traveling east on Carew. Delaney said officers followed a "trail of debris and motor vehicle fluids" from the crash site to Narraganset Street, where they found a badly damaged Jeep Cherokee with a flat tire and "steam coming out of the engine."
As officers knocked on the front door of 25 Narraganset St., they saw Perez jump from a window and run toward a backyard fence. Officers tackled Perez and took him into custody, Delaney said.
Perez was "carrying a large amount of marijuana," according to Delaney, who did not specify a quantity. Police conducted a subsequent warrant search of his residence and found cash, large quantities of cocaine and marijuana, and drug-packaging material for street sales, Delaney said.
The Jeep was reported stolen by its owner, who lives on Patton Street. That's where an officer first spotted Perez pulling onto Main Street in the wrong direction, Delaney said.
Two other residents of the Narraganset Street residence were arrested on drug charges. Joseph A. Cruz, 24, and Hailey Luz Rodriguez, 20, were each charged with marijuana and cocaine possession with intent to distribute.
Delaney said all three would be held without right to bail until their arraignments Monday. The sergeant praised citizens for quickly providing information to investigating officers. "Without their assistance the suspect might have gotten away," he said.
The fatal accident remains under investigation by Officer Edward Hiney, a member of the department's Traffic Bureau.