WESTFIELD – A week after the 10-year anniversary of Melanie’s Law, which was created to impose stricter penalties for drunk driving, a Westfield mother faces charges of OUI and OUI with child endangerment.
An off-duty Westfield reserve officer was nearly hit by Kimberly Therrien’s 2003 Mercury Mountaineer as he was putting his infant into his vehicle in the parking lot of Evergreen Manor, located at 919 Southampton Road.
As Dave Therrien (no relation to Kimberly Therrien) followed her vehicle around 1:15 p.m. Saturday afternoon southbound on Southampton Road, he saw that she had two children in the car.
On Springdale Road, Dave Therrien watched as Kimberly Therrien’s SUV almost struck another vehicle head-on.
Meanwhile, dispatch received a call from a Michael Leonard who reported he had almost been struck head-on while traveling on Springdale Road.
Westfield police officers stopped Kimberly Therrien’s vehicle on Springdale Road where she was arrested a short time later.
Kimberly Therrien, 38, faces the following charges: operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle child endangerment, marked lanes violation and reckless endangerment to child.
The two children in the car were girls under the age of 14, including Kimberly Therrien’s daughter.
Melanie’s Law, which passed on October 28, 2005 and went into effect on January 1, 2006, was named after a 13-year-old Marshfield girl who died after being struck by a repeat OUI offender, according to massbar.org.
One of the penalties under Melanie’s Law included creating a new child endangerment by OUI offense to be charged when an alleged drunken driver is transporting a minor 14 years of age or younger, according to massbar.org.
There are charges added to any penalties resulting from an OUI including additional fines and a mandatory 90-day sentence to the house of correction.
A driver charged with OUI “with a child 14 years of age or younger in the motor vehicle or vessel shall also be guilty of child endangerment while operating a motor vehicle . . . and shall be punished by an enhanced penalty of a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000 and by imprisonment in the house of correction for not less than 90 days nor more than 21/2 years,” according to malegislature.gov.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
