NORTHAMPTON — An Easthampton man was found dangerous by a judge Friday after police allege he hit a woman with his car on Florence Road the previous night.
Joseph C. Adams, 30, pleaded not guilty in Northampton District Court to charges of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon (motor vehicle) and intimidation of a witness/juror/police/court official. Judge Jacklyn Connly presided. Adams was represented by Northampton attorney John Drake.
Adams was ordered held for a period not to exceed 120 days following a dangerousness hearing Friday.
Northampton police responded to Emerson Way Thursday at around 9:05 p.m. for a report of a car crash involving a pedestrian, according to a police report.
When police arrived, a witness reported that they had seen a light-colored car hit a woman while they were driving on Florence Road.
According to the witness cited in the police report, the driver of the car had told the witness that they were fine before the driver picked up the woman and placed her in the passenger seat. The witness reportedly heard the woman say, “I’m hurt” before the driver drove into the field behind Ravenwold Greenhouses, according to police.
The witness had cameras on his car that captured the incident, according to police.
“In the video, I observed a white car driving on Florence Road and what appears to be a female walking off the shoulder of the road,” according to a report by Northampton police. “The white vehicle is seen driving directly towards … the female striking her.”
Police said that they eventually found Adams and the alleged victim walking from a shed where the suspect vehicle was eventually located. Adams allegedly told police that he had heard screeching tires at one point, but did not see anything. The alleged victim reportedly also told police that they did not hear or see anything.
Later on, the alleged victim told officers that she heard something unusual and saw a woman get hit by a car, according to police. As police searched for the woman involved in the crash, the alleged victim allegedly confessed to police that she was the one who was struck by the car. Another Northampton police officer in their own report said that the alleged victim later told them that Adams was the driver of the car.
The woman, who is 26, told police she was scared to speak to them as she did not want Adams to get into trouble or arrested. She was transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Northwestern district attorney’s office in a statement.
The car involved in the incident was also found to have front-end damage — including a shattered windshield, police said. Police in court documents said that the recovered car was the one seen in video footage of the incident.
The Massachusetts State Police and the Easthampton Police Department also assisted with the investigation into the incident.
During his arraignment Friday, Drake, the defense attorney, said that Adams told police that he was pulling over to pick up the woman, that he was coming to a stop and crossed over the grass a bit and “made contact with” the victim. Drake said the commonwealth was alleging Adams drove at the victim “in a malicious way.” Drake also said that if it were true that Adams drove into the victim as alleged, she would have had suffered more severe injuries.
“If this case were to go to trial, the commonwealth would have some serious problems proving beyond a reasonable doubt that it was not an accident,” Drake said. Adams is due back in court on Sept. 30.