Pittsfield — A 22-year-old Glendale man charged with numerous counts stemming from a fatal Easter weekend car accident in Great Barrington was arraigned before Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder in Berkshire Superior Court on May 22 after the case was moved there from Southern Berkshire District Court in Great Barrington.
Police say that Kyle Bailey, a Keene State College student, was drinking and speeding in the early hours of Saturday, April 4, when the Subaru Forester wagon he was driving crashed into a utility pole on East Street. The crash killed front seat passenger Garrett J. Norton, 21, of Housatonic, and injured backseat passenger Matthew Moriarty, 20, of Great Barrington. Bailey dislocated a hip in the accident and, in a brief appearance in District Court last week, was seen walking with the aid of a cane.
According to the Berkshire County District Attorney’s office, Bailey had “not guilty” pleas entered on his behalf on the following counts: Motor Vehicle Homicide While Under the Influence of Alcohol and Operating Negligently; one count of Operating Under the Influence of Alcohol and Operating Negligently Causing Serious Bodily Injury; one count of Possession of an Open Container of Alcohol in a Motor Vehicle; one count of Failure to Stay Within Marked Lanes; and one count of Speeding.
The first two charges are felonies, said the DA’s office. According to a Southern Berkshire District Court official, sentences of up to 2 ½ years in the county jail can be given in District Court, but sentences higher than 2 ½ years, which are served in state prison, are the domain of Superior Court. The felony version of OUI requires a minimum sentence of three to four years.
Judge Kinder released Bailey on $4,000 bail on the condition that he not drive or use alcohol while the case is still pending.
According to Great Barrington Police, who were the first to arrive at the scene, Bailey had been drinking on a Friday night out with friends Norton and Moriarty. Police say he told them he was driving Moriarty home when the car failed to negotiate a gradual left turn and hit the utility pole.
Bailey’s blood alcohol content was tested after the accident, but results have not yet been made public. The speed of the car that Bailey was driving has also not been released. The speed limit on East Street is 25 mph. The Great Barrington Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police Accident Reconstruction Unit investigated the accident.
All three young men were recent graduates of Monument Mountain Regional High School. The accident, and the grief around Norton’s death, rocked the larger Great Barrington community.
