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Stefen Baulkman, of Holyoke, is charged with OUI, manslaughter, OUI causing serious bodily injury, and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, the Hampden County District Attorney's Office said. A judge ordered him held on a $50,000 bail during his arraignment Thursday, April 20. The judge also revoked his bail in an unrelated case.
Prosecutors said police clocked Baulkman speeding around 2:45 a.m. March 25 on Montgomery Street and pulled him over, but he sped away before the officer could speak with him, the prosecutor said.
Moments later, the SUV crashed into Joey Lucia's home on Montgomery Street and burst into flames. Responders were able to pull Baulkman and two other teens in the vehicle out of the wreckage, but they couldn't get 13-year-old Da’Vant Byrd, Baulkman's brother, out before flames consumed the car, the prosecutor said. The other teens were taken to Baystate Medical Center with minor injuries.
Lucia was seriously injured in the crash when the car hit him inside his home. Everyone else inside the house was able to escape without injury.
Police believe Baulkman was drunk when he crashed the car.
“The Commonwealth has reason to believe from the medical records that the defendant’s blood serum was somewhere in the neighborhood of .14 Blood Alcohol Content," said Thomas Prendergast, Hampden Assistant District Attorney, during Thursday's arraignment, per Western Mass News. "Furthermore, there were statements made from other witnesses in regards to there being drinking going on prior to the defendant operating the vehicle."
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