John Sullivan, 77, won't wait for his trial behind bars, however, as Judge Neil Hourihan ruled that Sullivan will be sequestered from the public with house arrest, the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office said. The Quincy man will have to pay a $10,000 surety bond — far less than the prosecution's ask of $50,000 — and wear a GPS monitor as part of the home confinement conditions, authorities said.
Sullivan pleaded not guilty last week to the charges of civil rights violation, assault & battery with a dangerous weapon (motor vehicle), reckless operation of a motor vehicle, and leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury from the alleged Dec. 2 crash in Quincy.
The victim's sister Desiree Thien told WCVB that she, her brother, and her three children were walking toward the US Post Office on Washington Street before 11 a.m. when Sullivan sped past them and parked. Her brother and Sullivan had a heated argument after he asked Sullivan not to speed around children, she told the news station.
"'Go back to China,'" Thien recalled Sullivan saying. "'I’m going to go into the post office and come back out in five minutes. If you’re still here, I’m going to kill all of you,'"
Thien said her brother was standing in front of Sullivan's car writing down his information when he returned, she told the news station. Thien claims Sullivan got into his car and hit the gas with her brother still standing there.
"He rammed into my brother," she told WCVB. "My brother rolled onto the hood, and he clung onto the hood. He went for about a good 200 yards, then he brakes so my brother fell off. When (my brother) was trying to balance, he hit my brother again, continuing his racial slurs."
Quincy police said the victim was thrown into a construction zone ditch that was 10 to 15 feet deep. Then Sullivan sped off, authorities allege.
A witness followed Sullivan and called police dispatchers to keep them abreast of where he was going, authorities said. They followed him into Braintree, where officers arrested Sullivan on Quincy Avenue and returned him to Quincy Police for booking, authorities said.
Thien told reporters that her brother is recovering from a broken shoulder, concussion, and torn ligaments.
Sullivan is due back in court on Feb. 10 for a pre-trial conference, the prosecutor said.
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