A father allegedly fled a crash with his 2-year-old son. The boy then drowned in a brook, police say.

A Vermont man pleaded not guilty Monday in connection with the death of his toddler son, who drowned in a Clarksburg, Massachusetts, brook after his father allegedly fled the scene of a car crash with him over the weekend.

Darel A. Galorenzo, 35, is charged with manslaughter, reckless endangerment of a child, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and operating under the influence. The Readsboro, Vermont, resident was arraigned in Northern Berkshire District Court Monday morning. Galorenzo’s attorney declined to comment on the charges.

The Northern Berkshire District Court clerk’s office said Galorenzo is being held on $250,000 cash bail and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing May 8.

The crash happened shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday, Massachusetts State Police said in a news release. Minutes after arriving at the scene of a car crash on Middle Road in Clarksburg, troopers learned that a young child who had been in the 2015 Subaru Crosstrek was missing, police said.

Emergency crews searched Hudson Brook and found the toddler in the water near 150 Middle Road shortly before 2:20 a.m., according to the release. EMTs treated the boy for drowning injuries, and he was taken to Berkshire Medical Center in North Adams, where he was pronounced dead, police said. 

“Preliminary investigation suggests the two-year-old boy died after his father, while fleeing the scene of a motor vehicle crash on foot, lost the child in a brook,” state police said in the release. 

Galorenzo was located nearby, and troopers determined he had been driving while intoxicated, according to the release.

State police spokesperson Dave Procopio told the The Boston Globe that no one else was in the car at the time of the crash, and there’s no evidence that another vehicle was involved. iBerkshires.com reported that the Subaru was traveling southbound when it crashed into a mailbox and utility pole.

The crash happened on Middle Road in Clarksburg, Massachusetts:

Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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