Accident Reconstruction Network > News >August 2008

Accident Reconstruction News Article

Lawrence man critically injured in suspected drag racing crash

LAWRENCE — A local man who police believe was drag racing was critically injured last night when he lost control of his car and smashed into a utility pole and a tree.

Michael Beauregard, 22, of 152 Water St. in Lawrence was listed in critical condition last night at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, where he was flown by medical helicopter from Lawrence General Hospital shortly after 6 p.m.

"Based on the witnesses' statements and the preliminary evidence, we believe they were drag racing," police Chief John Romero said. "Speed appears to have been a factor from what we know — the witnesses, skid marks and the accident itself."

Members of the state police accident reconstruction team were called in to investigate the crash. The impact of the crash snapped a utility pole, the top portion of which was left lying in the eastbound lane across from 413 Riverside Drive.

Police say Beauregard was driving one of two cars that passed a minivan traveling west up Riverside Drive.

Water Street turns into Riverside Street at the intersection of Ames Street, near the water treatment plant in the city's Tower Hill area.

Police said Beauregard's 1990 Ford Mustang came close to clipping the minivan before jetting across the street, leaving four sets of skid marks on the pavement as it headed toward the utility pole.

"The first car flew around us speeding, and the second car went to pass me, too, and then went fishtailing," said Rhonda Janeczko, 38, of Lowell, the driver of the minivan. "We were out celebrating my father's retirement from Raytheon. Some retirement party, huh?"

Beauregard was ejected from the car after its rear side struck a utility pole and the front side of the car smashed into a tree, police said.

Police were still searching last night for the driver of the second car, who witnesses say was apparently racing with Beauregard.

"The way those cars were moving, it was definitely a drag race," said Janeczko's father, Sherman Muscovitz, 64, of Lowell, a passenger in the minivan. "Speeding is one thing. I'm not a pro, but in my eye view, that was a drag race.

"Thank God nobody else got involved in this. We're lucky nobody was coming down the road on the other side, or there would have been a head-on collision."

Following the crash, Muscovitz said, he rushed out of the minivan and went over to check Beauregard's condition.

"He was unconscious ... lying on his left side," he said. "The other guy took off. He didn't even stop and come back to see if he was all right."

Soon after, a girlfriend and members of Beauregard's family showed up at the accident scene, witnesses said.

Police said Beauregard has been cited by police in the past for speeding and drag racing. He once had his license suspended in connection with speeding citations.

Romero said residents in the Tower Hill area have complained before about speeding in the Riverside area, which was the site of 15 citations issued over the past several weeks.

"It's dangerous," said Kennedy Villa, owner of the house at 413 Riverside Drive, across from where the crash occurred last night.

"They hit the wall of my house six months ago," he said. "The biggest accident I saw was (the night) when the Patriots lost (the Super Bowl). A lady flipped over an SUV five minutes after the game."

Villa and his wife have four children between the ages of 10 and 20. And they worry about the traffic that goes speeding by their house.

"We get over here and see how they come flying when they hit the corner," he said, noting that this was the fourth accident there in the last six months.