Swampscott man pleads not guilty to slew of motor vehicle charges

LYNN – Prosecutors did not seek bail and a judge allowed a Swampscott man to remain free after police said the man had been drinking and was driving 74 miles per hour moments before hitting a granite wall this September, injuring himself and three passengers in a fiery crash.”I formed the opinion that (the defendant) had been operating his vehicle at 44 miles per hour above the speed limit in a thickly settled residential neighborhood, after consuming some amount of alcoholic beverages, and being potentially distracted by loud music playing ? ultimately colliding with a granite wall,” Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Eric Bernstein wrote in a report. “As a result of his reckless disregard to operate his motor vehicle safely, he not only endangered the public at large, but caused injury to all four occupants of his vehicle, two of whom suffered serious incapacitating bodily injury which required surgery and prolonged rehabilitation.”Daniel Madigan-Fried, 24, of 2 Tupelo Road, Swampscott, appeared on a summons in Lynn District Court Tuesday where he was arraigned on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, two counts; negligent operation of a motor vehicle; failure to wear a seatbelt; and speeding; according to court documents.A plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf, according to court documents.Swampscott Police officers responded at approximately 12:53 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 14 to a motor vehicle crash in the area of 20 Stetson Ave. in Swampscott, Bernstein reported.Officers found a Chrysler had collided with the granite wall of an abandoned railroad bridge and then caught fire. A Stetson Avenue neighbor pulled the right front-seat passenger, Michael Caira, 25, of Nahant, from the burning vehicle, according to police.Colin Dejoy, 24, of Swampscott, and Thomas “Joey” Dejoy, 26, of Marblehead, were in the right and left back seats, respectively, and escaped the vehicle, according to police and witnesses.Swampscott Police said the driver, later identified as Madigan-Fried, was not on scene when police and neighbors responded.Caira was taken by helicopter to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston with serious, life-threatening injuries. Thomas Dejoy was taken by ambulance to Salem Hospital, then taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for serious, life-threatening injuries.Madigan-Fried’s mother came to the scene a few minutes after Swampscott police arrived and told officers her son was around the corner in her car. Swampscott officers described Madigan-Fried as “unsteady on his feet, with slurred speech, and stumbling,” to Trooper Bernstein, according to the trooper’s report.(Bernstein said he arrived at the scene at approximately 3 a.m., according to his report. He was assigned as lead investigator at the request of Swampscott Police Chief Ronald Madigan because Madigan-Fried is related to the chief.)Madigan-Fried and Colin Dejoy were taken to Salem Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.Madigan-Fried initially told Bernstein he was driving his friends home from Rockafellas in Salem when he swerved to avoid a girl who had ran out in front of his car, causing him to hit the wall, according to police. Madigan-Fried said he was driving 45 miles per hour in a rental car from his job, had picked his friends up and gone to the bar, and had three beers at the bar, according to the report.”Madigan-Fried seemed more concerned with the condition of the rental car and his insurance rates going up than the medical status of his passengers,” Bernstein reported.Bernstein reported Madigan-Fried smelled of alcohol and had slurred speech.But Madigan-Fried later admitted the men had been at Madigan-Fried’s ex-girlfriend’s house before they all went out to the bar. He denied drinking at the friend’s house, however, according to the report, contradicting other witnesses’ statements.Despite police requests, and the registered nurse assuring Bernstein the night of the incident that lab samples and test