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Massachusetts road rage attack ends with driver making U-turn to mow down woman: prosecutors

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Massachusetts road rage attack ends with driver making U-turn to mow down woman: prosecutors

A Massachusetts road-rage altercation left one woman dead and one man behind bars last week, authorities said.

Ryan Sweatt got into “an apparent road rage incident” with another car on Route 85 in Hopkinton on Thursday night and struck a woman who got out of the other car, the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office wrote in a Friday news release.

The 26-year-old woman, Destini Decoff, died on Sunday from those injuries, her mother Tracy Decoff wrote on Facebook.

At some point during Thursday’s confrontation, officials said, some of the occupants of her car got out, and Sweatt made a U-turn in his Honda Civic and hit the woman “at a high rate of speed.”

Sweatt told police that Decoff and four men got out of their car and surrounded his, according to a police report obtained by CBS News. One had a knife, he said, and he shouted to responding officers that “they’re trying to kill me!”

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Destini Decoff, 26, was sent flying in the air after Ryan Sweatt, 36, rammed her with his car in what police called an “apparent road rage incident.” (Destini Decoff/Facebook)

The 36-year-old Milford resident was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, operating to endanger and a marked lanes violation, according to the District Attorney’s Office said, which could not be immediately reached to answer whether additional charges would be filed in light of her death. 

A witness told police that Sweatt “chose to turn around” and “knew what he was doing” when he made a U-Turn and hit Decoff with his Civic, according to CBS. Prosecutors said that surveillance footage of the scene affirmed the witness’s account. 

“He turned around multiple times, and he could have just kept going,” Brett Martin, who watched the scene unfold on Route 85 from Cornell’s Irish Pub. “He chose to turn around. He knew what he was doing when he went towards that girl.”

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Martin said that the impact caused Decoff’s clothes to fly off when she was thrown by the vehicle. 

“I saw her midair kind of coming down toward the street,” Martin told CBS. “Her jacket must’ve been 20 feet away from her. However, she got hit, those clothes flew off.” 

Martin said he ran over to the scene, grabbed Decoff’s jacket and covered the bloodied woman.

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On Sunday, Tracy Decoff wrote on Facebook that her “firstborn child [and] best friend” had passed away. (Destini Decoff on Facebook)

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Prosecutors said a police officer saw Sweatt speed away from the scene after the 6:30 p.m. incident, CBS reported. When police caught up to him, his windshield was damaged – he allegedly got out of the car screaming, “They’re trying to kill me!” 

Sweatt told police that Decoff started the altercation by pulling in front of him and slammed on her brakes as he drove home from work, according to court documents. Then, he said, Decoff and four men got out of their vehicle and threatened him.

The District Attorney’s Office did not specify whether Decoff had been driving before she was struck.

Following the District Attorney’s Office announcement, Decoff’s mother wrote on Facebook that Sweatt was “charged with everything he should’ve been.” 

“She was in the car with friends when the car behind them was riding their bumper,” the mother wrote. “Car pulled over, they got out of the vehicle and that car tried to run them over.” 

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Decoff suffered two collapsed lungs, a brain bleed, a slew of broken bones and extreme facial disfigurement in the attack, her mother said. (Destini Decoff/Facebook)

Decoff’s mother wrote on Facebook that the woman had part of her skull removed to accommodate a brain bleed and was put on a respirator due to two collapsed lungs after she was mowed down in Hopkinton last Thursday.

With a broken rib, shoulder and tibia, along with facial disfigurement that required plastic surgery, the elder Decoff wrote that her daughter was “literally injured from head to toe.” 

Last Friday, Decoff’s mother wrote that she “hop[ed] that mf burns directly in hell” with “every ounce of [her] being.” 

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On Sunday, she wrote that her “firstborn child [and] best friend” had passed away. 

The ultimately-fatal road rage incident took place on Route 85 near Cornell’s Irish Pub, pictured. A witness told reporters that Decoff’s jacket landed 20 feet away after she was sent flying in the air. (Google Maps)

Sweatt entered a not-guilty plea, according to court records, and is scheduled to appear in Framingham District Court on April 10. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

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Maine

Amtrak train strikes, kills man in Old Orchard Beach, Maine

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Amtrak train strikes, kills man in Old Orchard Beach, Maine


A 51-year-old man was fatally struck by an Amtrak train in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, on Thursday afternoon, and police believe alcohol was a factor.

Old Orchard Beach Police say they responded around 2:18 p.m. to the area of the railroad tracks located off from the roadway near 133 Temple Avenue. The victim, who had been struck by a train traveling northbound, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Information obtained from witnesses suggests the man was traveling alone and walking nearby the railroad tracks moments before being struck by the train, according to police, who didn’t say why they believe alcohol was a factor in the incident.

The victim’s name is being withheld pending further investigation and notification, with police saying only that he was from Old Orchard Beach.

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Amtrak said in a statement obtained by NBC10 Boston affiliate News Center Maine that the individual was trespassing when he came into contact with the train.

Amtrak urged the public in its statement to stay off railroad property and use caution around railroad tracks and grade crossings, writing, “These incidents can affect everyone involved—those who are injured or die and their families, our train crews, and our passengers.”

There were no reported injuries among the 135 passengers and crew members abord the No. 683 train that was traveling from Boston to Brunswick until the incident happened on Thursday.

The added that preventing railroad incidents and fatalities is a priority for them. Amtrak is working with local authorities investigating this latest incident.

An investigation remains ongoing by the Old Orchard Beach Police Department, Amtrak Police and Saco Police Department, which responded to assist.

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Massachusetts

Crash disupts traffic on Interstate 195 in Seekonk

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Crash disupts traffic on Interstate 195 in Seekonk


A crash disrupted traffic on Interstate 195 west in Seekonk just before noon Friday.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation said lanes were closed. Drivers should expect delays.

The crash was reported near exit 1.

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New Hampshire

A mom is thankful for Dismas Home – which is expanding recovery services to Rochester

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A mom is thankful for Dismas Home – which is expanding recovery services to Rochester


On Tuesday morning a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours ushered in what will be a new recovery home in Rochester.

Dismas Home started operating out of Manchester, but they’ve expanded their services to Rochester, soon offering 28 beds between the two cities. Cheryll Andrews, executive director of Dismas Home of New Hampshire, said the goal is to one day put a home in every county in the state.

“Our founder, Julie McCarthy Brown wants a home in every county before she passes away,” Andrews said.

Cheryll Andrews holds up a pair of scissors commemorating Dismas Home’s expansion to Rochester

Dismas Home offers women who have been involved with the criminal justice system evidence-based substance use treatment programs and helps them establish independent living. Women who participate in Dismas Home can stay up to 15 months. The home is also staffed 24/7 and offers mental, behavioral, and physical health support.

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Andrews said there’s already a waitlist to get in. The home gets referrals from court systems, county and state jails, and defense attorneys. They require people fill out an application, where they are vetted before becoming accepted into the program.

Andrews said Dismas Home differs from other treatment facilities that may work only with women with children by allowing women who don’t have children or aren’t with them to attend their program.

“We don’t serve women with children, we serve [women] who want them back,” Andrews said.

Andrews said about 67% of the women who enter the program complete it and 90% of those that do stay sober for the long term.

Alacia Linville graduated from Dismas Home’s program in Manchester, she credits the home with helping her recovery and sobriety.
Alacia Linville graduated from Dismas Home’s program in Manchester, she credits the home with helping her recovery and sobriety.

Alacia Linville graduated from Dismas Home’s program in Manchester. She was homeless when she went to jail in Belknap County in 2019. She said she had been to jail before for short periods of time but this time she was in for eight months for the sale of methamphetamine.

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“After about my third month in, I started to think I need an aftercare plan,” Linville said. “I had gone to treatments numerous times and none of them had worked.”

Linville said a case manager referred her to Dismas Home in Manchester where she ended up staying over 15 months, starting in 2020.

She said she was hesitant at first. Manchester was the city she was using in, she hadn’t tried an aftercare program before and she thought it would end up being more of a transactional situation but she said she was surprised to find they gave her the help she needed.

“The support, that was different this time,” Linville said. “I was used to going into programs, getting the support, getting out – I was homeless again.”

Linville moved to Hampton after her time at Dismas Home and stayed at Magnolia House as she addressed other charges she had from Rockingham court. She said Dismas Home helped her navigate dealing with them.

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She said it feels good to say she’s been sober. She said she has been since 2023 but found recovery in 2019. It was a year into her sobriety that she said she felt she knew she could continue to do it.

She now lives with her 2-year-old daughter Jocelyn and fiance in Newmarket.

“I look at my family today and I just can’t imagine, like ever moving backwards,” Linville said.

Dismas Home in Rochester is expected to start housing women in early August. The home still needs to be licensed, furnishings need to be placed and some construction is still undergoing.

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