Hey, there! Log in / Register

Man with lengthy record of motor-vehicle infractions charged with running down teen on a scooter, fleeing on wrong side of Columbia Road

Manuel Alfonseca, 32, was ordered held in lieu of $10,000 bail today on a variety of charges related to an incident last night that started when he allegedly drove away after hitting a 15-year-old on a scooter in Dorchester and ended with his capture in Jamaica Plain after police say he crashed into another car.

The teen remains in the hospital this morning with injuries so serious the homicide unit was initially called in after the crash.

At his arraignment in Dorchester District Court today, Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Brian Brodigan said Alfonseca has a record dating back to 1999 that includes driving recklessly, operating without a license, larceny, illegal possession of a gun and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

According to Brodigan, after hitting the teen around 8 p.m. at Kingsdale and Standish streets, police spotted his red Infiniti racing up Blue Hill Avenue towards Franklin Park, weaving in and out of traffic. He veered right onto Old Road and then Columbia Road - going the wrong way.

Police lost him at Wolcott Street, but when they got word of a car crash on Glenside Avenue on the other side of Franklin Park in Jamaica Plain, they rushed to the scene, to find Alfonseca getting out of his Infiniti after hitting another car and trying to run away, Brodigan said.

Alfonseca was released last night after his family posted $1,000 bail. This morning, Brodigan asked Judge Robert Tochka to increase that to $15,000, due to his record, which also includes at least one incidence of not showing up in court on an earlier charge and the seriousness of the victim's injuries.

Alfonseca's attorney, Kate McIntrye Sullivan, asked that Alfonseca be released on the same $1,000 bail set last night. She said Alfonseca may have wanted to stop after realizing he'd hit the teen, but kept driving because he noticed "several individuals racing towards his car. ... He got nervous."

Sullivan noted he had shown up in court for his arraignment and said he was a man turning his life around: He is going for his GED, has a job in construction and is active in the lives of his two children, aged 4 and 9. And she said when she first talked to him, his first words were to inquire about the condition of the teen.

Sullivan allowed as how, yes, he might have defaulted on an earlier charge in Dorchester, but said Tochka should discount that in his bail considerations - he didn't default because he wanted to evade the charge, but because at the time he was being held in connection with a newer charge in Roxbury.

Tochka then set bail at $10,000. A bailiff handcuffed Alfonseca and placed him in the prisoner's dock.

Innocent, etc.


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

What an animal. I hope he loses his license permanently and enjoys a liberal prison sentence.

The disregard for human life that drivers in this city demonstrate is just shocking. I feel like I witness imminent vehicle / pedestrian collisions every single day as I walk from Ruggles to my work.

Who's next to be killed / paralyzed so somebody can get wherever they are going five seconds sooner?

up
Voting closed 1

I hope he loses his license permanently and enjoys a liberal prison sentence.

I know, right? Good one.

I'm sure they'll slap both his wrists this time.

up
Voting closed 0

I feel the same. police should really enforce bad driving behavior and courts should start locking bad people up

up
Voting closed 0

This guy needs to do some serious time. And his license needs to be taken from him for life. Not like that would ever stop him from driving, but at least legally strip him of that privilege.

up
Voting closed 0

was it 10k bail or 1k? this story mentions both amounts. so he has been released already on bail? HA!

up
Voting closed 0

After his arrest last night, he was released on $1,000 bail. This morning, the DA asked to have that increased to $15,000. The judge set it at $10,000, and he was handcuffed in court and put in the prisoner's dock. Will try to make that clearer in the original post.

up
Voting closed 0

I love how his lawyer spins being "active in the lives of his children" as a positive thing. I'm going to assume that if he was actually raising his kids she would have used a different wording. As if completely abandoning your kids is the norm, so the fact that he actually drops in on them from time to time makes him a good person.

up
Voting closed 0

She allowed as how, yes, he might have defaulted on an earlier charge in Dorchester, but said Judge Robert Tochka should discount that in his bail considerations - he didn't default because he wanted to evade the charge, but because at the time he was being held in connection with a newer charge in Roxbury.

Look he turned his life around! The only reason that he didn't show up to court is that he got himself arrested again. What a guy!

up
Voting closed 0

If he fled because people were racing to his location and he feared they'd hurt him for having hit a teen on a scooter, then after he had fled far enough (not like they got in their cars to chase him) why didn't he stop and call 911 and report the accident and wait for cops to arrive to speak with him? When the cops did find him, why did he then run further including driving on the wrong side of the street potentially endangering even more people and finally crashing (for the second time that night) into a car in JP where they finally found him?

Sorry, chief, at no point until AFTER you were captured did you seem to take any concern for others.

up
Voting closed 0

Sounds to me like the BPD did their due diligence and an outstanding job apprehending this individual.

But of course no one here will acknowledge that. Commence hating.

up
Voting closed 0

Just like every line of work, doing your job well is expected and praise is minimal, but when you mess up you get an earful.

up
Voting closed 1

the BPD probably wouldn't arrest you.

up
Voting closed 0

Was the 15 year old operating the scooter legally? I feel terrible for the kid, but these scooters are a problem. They come out of side streets without stopping and drive recklessly. This man was probably scared for his life, look at what happened to the man in Detroit who hit the little boy. Doesn't matter if it was an accident, you will be beaten before the cops can get there.

up
Voting closed 0

not even a GED and he drives red infinit? must make a killing (no pun intended) dong construction, huh

up
Voting closed 0

He almost killed someone and he gets a $1,000 bail???

up
Voting closed 0

The teen remains in the hospital this morning with injuries so serious the homicide unit was initially called in after the crash.

his first words were to inquire about the condition of the teen.

This is a defense now? Worried about being hit on homicide charges shows how great a guy he is?

$10,000 is a joke.

$1,000 bail should have the judge permanently disbarred.

up
Voting closed 0

(sigh)

Here we go again.

If/when he gets convicted, gripe about the sentence. Bail is not about that. Honestly, I am surprised they raised it to $10,000. The defense attorney had a point. He was released on $1,000 originally then turned up later in the day to be told that his bail should be $10,000.

Why don't people understand the difference between bail and a sentence?

Of course, I have no problem with the judge raising the bail amount, except for the fact that the defendant has shown himself to not be a flight risk (the hit and run charge, in of itself, notwithstanding.)

up
Voting closed 0

on this one as well. As the circumstances of this incident, serious as they are, hadn't changed from when the original bail amount was set, there appears to be no legitimate reason to increase the bail amount.

However, given the circumstances of this incident, why the judge was allowed to set such a low bail to begin with remains an issue that needs to be investigated.

up
Voting closed 0

Reportedly, the 15 year old victim wasn't wearing a helmet (as legally required), greatly contributing to his life threatening head injury. Second, its not been reported if the teen held a learner's permit allowing him to operate the scooter. I know motorcycle learner's permit doesn't allow riding at night, but am unsure on scooters. I've also not seen whether the scooter was registered and inspected with required lighting. We also don't know all the circumstances of the collision.

There is NO excuse for leaving the scene of an accident and racing off evading police, but all the illegal scooters and ATVs used by unlicensed, underage kids made this an accident waiting to happen. I hope police crack down again on illegal use of these things.

up
Voting closed 0

I was wondering when you'd by around to blame the victim.

up
Voting closed 0

Under-aged (16 and with a permit or license is the cut-off for motorized bicycles or LUVs or motorized scooters like mini-bikes), with no helmet, at night (motorized scooters aren't legal after sunset).

I'm no Markk supporter, but sometimes the victim has to take some of the blame for their condition.

Two shitty road users meet in the night. There may be plenty of blame to go around. Blaming the victim would say that he "deserved" to get hit. Markk didn't say that. At worst he said it's a likely event due to the high number of unlicensed, underaged kids using scooters/LUVs/mopeds on the streets. That's still not saying the kid was asking to get hit because he was a shitty road user just that he increased his odds of it AND increased the potential damage from it by riding helmetless.

up
Voting closed 0

sometimes the victim has to take some of the blame

That argument might carry a little more weight if we weren't talking about someone who just blamed a 90-year-old for being too brittle to survive a collision with a Fedex truck.

up
Voting closed 0

I did not blame a 90 year old for being fragile. I only made the point that they are fragile. Probably far more are injured/die from falls indoors than as pedestrians.

up
Voting closed 0

Of course you don't.

Glass houses dude, glass houses.

up
Voting closed 0

I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to stop fantasizing about my ass, Mark.

up
Voting closed 0

So you are the one calling attention to your lice, crabs, or whatever personal hygiene problems. Use your real name instead of only calling out others'.

up
Voting closed 0

Wow, you just can't stop yourself from visualizing my nether regions, can you? Seek help, dude.

up
Voting closed 1

Off topic but I actually I agree with Mark on this. Have an elderly parent or relative in their 90's? My mom lived to 95 but one fall and she would've shattered so I told her it wasn't allowed :), and she complied.
Her bones were very brittle and forget about contusions!

My daughter works in radiology and agrees that usually a fall for someone in their 90's can be a death sentence. Any time laying flat in bed for recovery will most likely bring on pneumonia, which will bring on congested heart failure and then their trapped in that cycle.

As we get older, falling becomes a greater fear for a very good reason.

I can't imagine a person in their 80's or 90's getting hit by a car resulting in a broken arm or leg and not being considered as seriously injured.,

up
Voting closed 0

So you agree with Mark that it's not really fair to blame the driver if a 90-year-old dies from getting hit by a truck, because hey, they're old, what are you gonna do?

up
Voting closed 1

Did Mark actually say that were a 90 year old to get hit by a car they would only have themselves to blame, or just that it would be more likely that they would die? I mean, he was purely trolling as he usually does, but still, did we confuse his defense of drivers and attacks on bicyclists and pedestrians as the claim that it's the old walker's fault?

I could be wrong. Feel free to show the quote. I'm just too lazy to look it up.

up
Voting closed 0

By a strange coincidence, I'm too lazy to show you the quote.

up
Voting closed 0

In the septic tank.

I'm just giving the guy the benefit of the doubt, if he deserves it in this case. He does a good job digging a hole for himself on a regular basis, but if he didn't say it, he didn't say it.

I just don't want to go rooting around that septic tank.

up
Voting closed 0

Its possible that the truck was traveling extremely slowly, yet startled the woman so that she fell and hit her head, an indirect injury. Check out people like Livable Streets Alliance who think speed limits ought to based on how likely a pedestrian hit at that speed will die. They will back up the fact as will a google search that elderly are very susceptible to serious injury and death from even just simple falls at home or in what should be supervised environments (nursing homes and hospitals). If it were a bicyclist (as in SF) instead of a truck driver which killed an elderly person, would you be blasting them? I didn't think so.

up
Voting closed 0

The basic message from the angry voices, however, when the smoke screen blows away, is that they don’t want cyclists on the road.

Well, bike riders are not going to go away, so here’s some advice:

Take a deep breath and get used to it.

Stop drinking and driving. That kills more than 10,000 people a year.

Stop speeding. It causes more than 9,000 deaths a year.

Stop talking and texting on your cellphone while driving. Distracted driving causes more than 3,000 deaths and more than 400,000 injuries a year.

Globally, traffic accidents kill about 1.2 million people each year, and 93 percent of them are caused by driver error.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcomm...

up
Voting closed 0

Not a cyclist. Also no evidence that the car driver was speeding, drinking, or distracted. So, in no way did what you post have any relevance.

up
Voting closed 0

You missed this massive whopper of a fact:

Globally, traffic accidents kill about 1.2 million people each year, and 93 percent of them are caused by driver error.

Drivers kill. They kill most often because they screw up or they are fucked up. They kill very large numbers of people ... note that it doesn't specify whether people are on scooters, motorcycles, bikes, in other cars, or on foot.

Nationally and globally, motorists rack up huge body counts - and 93% of the time it is due to carelessness or negligence.

(also note: this was in response to MarkyExhaustforBrains standard victim blaming screed and how it can't ever be a driver's fault for hitting anybody who dares to not be in a motor vehicle or who gets in the way of a truck making an illegal turn on red and plowing through a crosswalk - no matter how shitty their driving record, subsequent fleeing from the scene and police, or how many laws they broke in the process)

up
Voting closed 0

Driver error also includes an unlicensed 15 year old on a scooter after dark with no helmet. That falls under driver error regardless of what the other guy was doing.

This driver didn't hit someone who "dared not to be in a vehicle". A scooter is a vehicle.

up
Voting closed 1

But one look at this guys driving record, and his behavior after the accident, and it doesn't seem very likely that he just happened to be operating his giant killing machine properly this one time ...

up
Voting closed 0

...allow me to make some excuses so we can blame the victim.

up
Voting closed 0