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THE LOWELL SUN, JUNE 10, 1999
VICTIM FILES $1M SUIT AGAINST DRUNKEN DRIVER’S EMPLOYER
1996 LOWELL TRAGEDY KILLED 4-YEAR-OLD GIRL
By LISA REDMOND, Sun Staff
LOWELL – Three years after convicted drunken driver Mark Dillon drove a company truck onto a Lowell sidewalk, killing a 4-year-old child and injuring four others, a survivor has filed a $1 million negligence lawsuit against the Billerica roofing company that put Dillon behind the wheel. In a lawsuit filed this month, attorney Scott Bratton, representing the Sokkan “Don” Ngin and his family, claims Roofs Inc., doing business as Advanced Roofing, and its president, Michael J. Morgan, were negligent in allowing Dillon, an employee, drive the company truck on May 9, 1996. Bratton further alleges that, based on Dillon’s admissions during his sentencing hearing three years ago, Dillon had been drinking beer at the company shop hours before the fatal accident.
When reached for comment, Morgan’s attorney Mark Newman said, “We wouldn’t comment on litigation except to say there is no basis to find any liability on the part of Advanced Roofing or Mike Morgan.” Dillon is not named in the suit, Bratton explained, because his insurance company has already agreed to a financial settlement with the family. “This was a terrible case,” said Bratton, whose client was hospitalized and then could not work because he was confined in a wheelchair and restrained in a metal “halo” due to broken bones. “This family went through hell,” he said.
Shortly before 9 p.m. on the night of the accident, Ngin and his nieces – Joshelyne Velez, 4, and her sister, Keisaly Velez, 3 – were walking hand in hand along the Lawrence Street sidewalk in Lowell. In a matter of seconds, Dillon, then 27, of Lowell, drove the truck onto the sidewalk, slamming into Ngin and Joshelyne Velez with the truck’s snow plow, tossing them more than 100 feet. Joshelyne Velez died from a skull fracture. Her sister and uncle were seriously injured. Don Ngin suffered two broken legs and a broken vertebrae in his neck. Ngin’s wife and his baby daughter suffered scrapes and bruises.
On October 31, 1996, Dillon was sentenced to eight to twelve years in state prison after pleading guilty to motor vehicle homicide and a range of other charges. Dillon had compiled a record of 20 motor vehicle violations since 1987, including a 1993 conviction for drunken driving in New Hampshire. Behind bars and sober, Dillon, now 30, filed a “revise and revoke” motion, asking the judge to reduce the sentence because Dillon was undergoing treatment and had turned his life around, according to court documents. Last month, the judge denied the request.
Before filing the civil lawsuit, Bratton said he followed “a hunch”, suspecting that the roofing company knew of Dillon’s drinking problem, yet allowed him to get behind the wheel of a truck. During Morgan’s deposition, the company president denied knowledge of Dillon’s drinking history, Bratton said. Bratton said he had learned that Dillon had been previously arrested for drunken driving after leaving a company Christmas party. “They knew this guy had the propensity to overdo it with alcohol and they still let him drive a company truck, “ he said. “It’s like they put a loaded gun in his hand,” Bratton said. “It was foreseeable that Dillon’s drinking problem would some day cause damage, if not death,” he said.
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