Woman Charged In Dorchester Hit-And-Run Held On $1K Bail
BOSTON (CBS) -- A Dorchester woman who police say hit and killed a man on Washington Street Wednesday morning was held on $1,000 bail Thursday.
Melissa Benedict, 34, was charged with motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of an accident causing death. She hid her face under a hood in court.
Police said Benedict struck and killed the 43-year-old man just after 8 a.m. with a mini-van. The van was found nearly two miles away on Morton Street with a shattered windshield and a dented front bumper.
One witness told police that Benedict cut them off, then sped away down the street before hitting something that flew in the air--what they later realized was a body.
Benedict allegedly told police that she was adjusting the heat and the visor in the van when she heard a "big boom," and that she did not call 911 because she was following work protocol to contact her company, VHS Trans out of Easton, first.
A friend of Benedict told WBZ-TV outside court that she believed Benedict was probably terrified and panicked at the time, but that these charges were "not her."
"This is not the person that I've known forever," said the friend. "The person that I know is loving and caring and wonderful and gentle."
The defense said Benedict is the mother of two children and has no prior criminal record.
