The man convicted of crashing into a State Police cruiser on the Mass Pike and killing the trooper has received a split decision from the Supreme Judicial Court.
David Njuguna back in 2016 was spotted driving erratically on the Pike heading west — speeding and weaving through lanes without signaling.
A short time later, he crashed into a Mass State Police cruiser and killed Trooper Thomas Clardy, who was parked in the breakdown lane with his flashing lights on after pulling over another vehicle.
Njuguna, who on the morning of the crash bought four marijuana cigarettes from a Brookline medical marijuana dispensary, had THC in his system following the crash. He told police that he fell asleep before the crash, and that he had previously experienced episodes of “blacking out.”
In 2019, Njuguna was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, operating to endanger, and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.
He appealed the conviction, arguing that the state Legislature did not authorize multiple punishments for involuntary manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, and operating to endanger arising from the same act. He also argued that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his involuntary manslaughter conviction, and that his trial counsel was ineffective.
The Massachusetts Appeals Court ended up reversing the convictions of motor vehicle homicide and operating to endanger — noting that the Legislature did not intend to impose multiple punishments based on the same act for those offenses, in which a defendant is also convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
The appeals court upheld the involuntary manslaughter conviction, rejecting Njuguna’s arguments that the evidence was insufficient and that his trial counsel was ineffective.
The Supreme Judicial Court then took up the case for further appellate review.
“… We affirm the defendant’s convictions of involuntary manslaughter and operating an uninsured motor vehicle, but reverse the convictions of motor vehicle homicide and operating to endanger,” the SJC wrote in its ruling on Monday. “We further affirm the denial of the defendant’s motion for a new trial.”
Several eyewitnesses saw the crash back on March 16, 2016, and they tried to help before emergency personnel arrived.
One witness, Christopher Lindsay, was driving west in the middle lane at 75 mph when he noticed a black Nissan approaching “really fast” from behind. He also saw the State Police cruiser parked in the breakdown lane with its lights flashing.
Lindsay watched as the black vehicle moved into the left lane, passing him at a speed that made him feel as if he “was stopped,” and then cut to the right lane without signaling or braking. The vehicle then entered the breakdown lane and smashed into the cruiser.
The force of the impact sent the cruiser spinning off the road. Clardy suffered fatal injuries, with the cause of death determined to be blunt force injuries to the head, neck, and torso.
Njuguna received a sentence of 5 to 7 years in state prison for the involuntary manslaughter conviction, with lesser concurrent sentences on the remaining convictions.
In the SJC ruling, the state’s top court ruled that it was reversing the convictions of motor vehicle homicide and operating to endanger “as duplicative of his conviction of involuntary manslaughter.”
