A Webster man is accused of driving high in a crash that killed a state trooper. His trial began this week.
David Njuguna, 33, faces charges in the crash that killed Trooper Trooper Thomas Clardy in 2016.
A Webster man on trial for the death of a Massachusetts State Police trooper was found with THC in his bloodstream after he struck the trooper’s cruiser on the Massachusetts Turnpike in 2016, according to court testimony.
A state police forensic scientist testified Wednesday about the finding during the third day of the trial against David Njuguna, 33, who faces multiple charges, including manslaughter, stemming from the death of Trooper Thomas Clardy, WCVB reports.
Njuguna had purchased medical marijuana at New England Treatment Access in Brookline just hours before the crash, a dispensary employee testified Tuesday, according to the news station.
THC can remain in the bloodstream long after the psychoactive effects of marijuana wear off.
Authorities say Njuguna was behind the wheel of a Nissan Altima that collided with Clardy’s cruiser on March 16, 2016.
Clardy, 44, a Hudson father of six, was in the breakdown lane after pulling over a vehicle on the westbound side of the highway in Charlton at the time of the crash, officials said.
He later died at UMass Medical Center in Worcester, police said.
A judge will decide whether Njuguna is guilty, WCVB reports.
Njuguna’s attorneys have said he lost control of the car because of a medical emergency he suffered, according to the news station.
A UMass Memorial Medical Center nurse who treated Njuguna at the hospital following the crash told the judge that Njuguna said he did not suffer from seizures but has had black-out episodes, WCVB said.
On Wednesday, prosecutors called on New York Police Department Sgt. Thomas Sorrentino to testify.
Sorrentino was off-duty the day of the crash and was among the people to stop and help at the scene immediately after the incident, according to WCVB.
He told the court he saw the Nissan speeding and that it “cut across the (two left) lanes, to the right lane.”
“He hit the shoulder and kind of, like, corrected himself” before the crash, Sorrentino said.
He said during cross examination that he could not see into the sedan that hit the cruiser nor did he see the driver or their condition, according to the news station.
State police who investigated the crash were expected to testify Thursday.
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