The ex-Massachusetts State Police captain who’s dealing with fees in reference to a Dedham teenager drowning in his yard pool final summer time formally has a trial date.
James Coughlin and his spouse, Leslie, hosted a commencement celebration at their Dedham house final June when 17-year-old Alonzo Polk drowned. The Coughlins are each dealing with two fees in connection to the incident: reckless endangerment of a kid and furnishing alcohol to minors.
On Wednesday in Dedham District Court, the Coughlins requested for a trial date. The courtroom set a closing standing convention for Jan. 9, and a trial date of April 3 — greater than 660 days after Polk drowned on the boozy grad celebration.
Sometime earlier than midnight on June 5, 2021, the Coughlins and different adults attending the commencement celebration went inside the house, leaving the teenagers outdoors by the pool. Several of the teenagers have been intoxicated, in keeping with police.
The pool space was very dimly lit, and an underwater mild didn’t look like working.
Many of the teenagers started leaping into the pool. Polk and two buddies have been standing close to the deep finish, they usually in the end went into the pool.
His two buddies ultimately received out, and after a couple of minutes, they might not discover Polk. One teenager turned involved, dove into the pool, and located Polk submerged underwater. He was pulled from the pool and CPR was carried out on him earlier than he was rushed to the hospital. Polk died a number of days later.
He died because of “complications of drowning,” in keeping with his demise certificates, which doesn’t point out alcohol as a explanation for demise. Some witnesses noticed Polk with a drink, although toxicology stories revealed his blood alcohol focus was lower than .01% shortly after he arrived on the hospital.
While Polk wasn’t intoxicated, the Coughlins’ “furnishment of alcohol directly contributed to the risk of substantial injury,” the DA’s Office argued in a earlier courtroom submitting.
The Coughlins have pleaded not responsible to each counts, and had been making an attempt to get the reckless endangerment cost tossed.
“The facts of this case revolve around an absolute tragedy — a young man ten days’ shy of his eighteenth birthday drowned at a high school graduation party hosted by the Defendants,” the Coughlins’ protection lawyer Brian Kelly wrote in a previous courtroom submitting. “But as the Supreme Judicial Court has made clear, the fact that a minor died in an accident does not mean that there is probable cause the defendants engaged in reckless or wonton conduct that endangered the life of a child.”
In the spring, a Dedham District Court choose rejected their bid for the cost’s dismissal.
On Wednesday, Kelly advised reporters outdoors the courthouse that the Coughlins have been getting harassed at their house. He added that he has a video, which he plans to launch subsequent week in an effort to get the general public to determine the alleged harassers.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”