Massachusetts mother dies 10 days after crash that killed her 5-year-old daughter

By Veronica Haynes

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    FRANKLIN, Massachusetts (WCVB) — A woman who was seriously injured in an alleged drunken driving crash that killed her 5-year-old daughter in Franklin, Massachusetts, last month has also died, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said.

The crash happened at about 6:30 p.m. on May 24, the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, on Grove Street in Franklin. According to police, a driver who had multiple open containers of alcohol in his truck and a blood alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit crashed into a vehicle containing the Patel family of Franklin.

The family’s 5-year-old daughter died that day, and her mother, Minaben Patel, 38, has been hospitalized since. An autopsy will be performed to determine a cause of death.

“The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office and the Franklin Police Department are saddened by the loss to Minaben’s family and we extend our heartfelt condolences,” District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey and Franklin Police Chief Thomas J. Lynch said.

James Blanchard, 21, of Franklin, was arraigned May 27 on several charges, including motor vehicle homicide while driving under the influence and driving a vehicle with an open container of alcohol.

James BlanchardDriver in alleged drunken crash that killed girl in Franklin, Massachusetts, in court A neighbor said the family, Atulkumar and Minaben Patel and their two children, had just left a soccer game when Blanchard’s pickup struck their vehicle.

According to a Franklin police report, the father told officers they were headed to Blackstone for his son’s 14th birthday when he “saw a truck driving in his lane. He tried to avoid being hit by the truck by turning left into the opposite lane of travel, but they ended up colliding anyway.”

Blanchard said “he was coming home from Plainville where he works, and then all of a sudden there was a crash,” according to the report. When asked if his vehicle crossed into the oncoming lane, Blanchard “provided an evasive response saying that he doesn’t remember too much and that the crash happened very fast,” according to the report.

Franklin police officers, firefighters and EMS provided emergency care to the girl, who was then flown to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The rest of the family was taken by ambulance to a hospital. The girl’s father was released from the hospital; however, her brother and mother were being treated for serious injuries.

Investigators have not offered an update on the boy’s condition.

Good samaritan recalls moments she tried to save girl, 5, killed in Franklin, Mass., crash Investigators say after the crash, Blanchard’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and his breath smelled of alcohol. Police said multiple containers of vodka and beer were found in Blanchard’s truck.

According to a police report, Blanchard told detectives he stopped at a liquor store in Plainville after working as a mechanic and purchased a 1.75-liter bottle of Tito’s vodka and a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, then went to do landscaping.

“At the landscaping job, he had two beers. When he left, he opened the bottle of Tito’s, which he had bought earlier, and began drinking straight out of it and drove home. When asked about the two bottles of Tito’s in his vehicle, he said the empty bottle was from the night before, and the one that was 1/4 full of vodka was the bottle he bought earlier in the day, and the one he was drinking from before the crash,” the police report stated.

Police said Blanchard’s blood alcohol level was .189. A level of .08 is the legal limit in Massachusetts.

“It should be noted that James drank 3/4 of a 1.75-liter bottle of Tito’s vodka,” detectives noted in the report.

A not guilty plea was entered on Blanchard’s behalf, and he was held on $250,000 bail.

“It’s an unspeakable tragedy, it’s every parent’s nightmare and his thoughts and my thoughts are with the Patel family,” defense attorney Tim Flaherty said after Blanchard’s May 27 arraignment.

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