Two inmates working a roadside cleanup detail on Route 28 in Mashpee were struck by a car early yesterday morning, one of them dying as a result of his injuries.
Emanuel M. Moniz of New Bedford, 30, was pronounced dead at Cape Cod Hospital as a result of severe but unspecified injuries suffered when he was struck by a 2000 Nissan Altima at 8:48 AM. According to Chief Rodney C. Collins of the Mashpee Police Department, the second inmate, 32-year-old Mark Joiner of South Yarmouth, was also struck and suffered severe injuries, including a compound leg fracture. Mr. Joiner was transported to Cape Cod Hospital, then airlifted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. His current condition was not released. A third inmate on the work crew, 35-year-old Thomas J. O’Connell of Hyannis, was not injured. According to information provided by the David G. Neal and Roy Lyons, respectively the special projects manager and public information officer for the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Department, a three-man work detail was on the westbound side of Route 28, near Industrial Drive, picking up garbage when the accident occurred. A sheriff’s deputy was monitoring the crew from a van parked behind them on the side of the road. The detail was working under contract with the Massachusetts Highway Department. The inmates were dressed in orange jumpsuits and reflective safety vests, which are standard for roadside work details, and the van had its emergency lights on. During an afternoon press conference yesterday at the police station, Chief Collins said that the driver of the Nissan, 21-year-old Daniel O. Price of Marstons Mills, had “turned very abruptly” after passing the van, striking the inmates as they walked along the side of the road. According to the chief, Mr. Price told Sergeant Thomas Rose, the first officer on the scene, that he had fallen asleep at the wheel, but that has not been officially confirmed or ruled out as a causal factor. Chief Collins did not divulge any other details of the accident, including Mr. Price’s driving record or exactly where the inmates were relative to the road at the time of the accident. The case is under investigation by accident reconstruction specialists Officers Ronald Allen and David Mackiewicz. Chief Collins said any charges to be filed would be filed in consultation with the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office. The road was temporarily closed down while Mashpee paramedics administered emergency life support to the victims. Mr. Lyons reported that the third inmate was returned to the correctional facility. Mr. Neal said that he knows of no past incidents of an inmate being hit by a car while on a work detail. “To my knowledge, this kind of thing has never happened before,” he said. James M. Cummings, county sheriff, also said at the press conference he is unaware of any time in the work release program’s history of an inmate being injured or killed. Sheriff Cummings said the program would be suspended for at least the rest of the week. Mr. Moniz was two weeks away from finishing out a six-month sentence, Sheriff Cummings said. Mr. Moniz was arrested on Nantucket in an undercover drug operation in July 2006, later pleading guilty to a charge of distributing cocaine. After his release he was due to serve a year of supervised probation.
