Driver in double fatality is held on $20,000 bail

WORCESTER â€"  Robert J. Curran allegedly was driving more than 80 mph when he crashed into another car at Chandler and Piedmont streets Sunday morning, leaving two young city men in the other car dead, a prosecutor said today.

Mr. Curran, 22, of 33 Buttercup Lane, Grafton, sat quietly in a chair next to his hospital bed at UMass Memorial Medical Center â€" University Campus with his hands folded as Assistant District Attorney Brett F. Dillon detailed the allegations.

“Mr. Curran's operation of that vehicle was reckless to say the least,” the prosecutor said. “Witnesses have him going between 80 to 100 miles per hour and colliding with these young men.”

Mr. Curran allegedly slammed his 2001 white Acura into a 2005 blue Acura driven by 18-year-old Andres Guzman at 2 a.m. Mr. Guzman and 19-year-old Joel Rodriguez were killed in the crash. Another passenger in Mr. Guzman’s car, Jesus Molina, 19, of Worcester, was critically injured.

State Registry of Motor Vehicle records show Mr. Curran has a history of driving offenses, with several pages of infractions starting in 2005. His license was suspended at the time of Sunday's accident. The record shows from February to September 2009 Mr. Curran had four speeding tickets in Upton, Grafton and Hopkinton.

Mr. Dillon asked that Mr. Curran be held on $100,000 cash bail, calling him a flight risk. The prosecutor noted the car Mr. Curran drove at the time of the accident was registered in South Carolina.

Defense lawyer Andrea Levy said her client has no convictions on his record and recently had been in South Carolina visiting his mother and young brother, who is a Marine. Mr. Curran works in Massachusetts and has strong family ties here, she said. She wanted her client released on personal recognizance.

After the arraignment at the hospital, Ms. Levy had no further comment. She had just met her client earlier in the day and was still reviewing police reports.

Judge Margaret Guzman ordered Mr. Curran held on $20,000 cash bail and continued his case to Nov. 8. He was charged with two counts of motor vehicle homicide by negligent driving, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident after causing death, negligent driving, leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury, speeding, leaving the scene after causing property damage and driving with a suspended license.

Pleas of not guilty were entered in the case.

Mr. Curran allegedly left the accident scene after speaking to a paramedic. Mr. Dillon said Mr. Curran first went to Harrington HealthCare at Hubbard in Webster, then was transferred to UMass Memorial Medical Centerâ€"University Campus.

Mr. Curran told hospital staff he was hurt in a bar fight, court records show.

Mr. Molina remains in critical condition at UMass Memorial Medical Center â€" University Campus, according to police, who identified the third person as a 19-year-old man.

Mr. Curran was standing outside his car when paramedics arrived, Officer James T. Foley wrote in a statement of facts. A male passenger in Mr. Curran's car was not identified in the police report, and his condition was not released.

Mr. Curran told the paramedic he was in the car and his chest hurt from the airbag. The only non-occupied seat in the car with an airbag was the driver's seat, the officer wrote.

The paramedic helped with other patients, then turned to see if Mr. Curran needed medical treatment, but he was gone, Officer Foley wrote.

The paramedic spoke to investigators and later at the police station identified Mr. Curran in a photo array as the man he spoke to next to the white Acura. The paramedic said the injuries discussed by Mr. Curran were consistent with being struck by the driver's side airbag deployment.