Officer testifies on Pike crash that killed trooper

WORCESTER — A New York City police sergeant who witnessed the 2016 crash that resulted in the death of State Trooper Thomas L. Clardy testified about his observations Wednesday in Worcester Superior Court.

Thomas Sorrentino, who was off-duty and traveling west on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Charlton at about noon on March 16, 2016, said he saw a black Nissan Maxima ahead of him veer across three traffic lanes at high speed without the driver signaling or braking.

Sorrentino, who was called to the witness stand by Assistant District Attorney David P. Feraco, said it appeared the Maxima would cross over the breakdown lane and go off the road, but then "corrected itself," traveling about another 100 yards in the breakdown lane and striking the rear of Clardy's cruiser.

Clardy, a 44-year-old trooper from Hudson who was conducting a motor vehicle stop at the time of the crash, died as a result of his injuries.

The driver of the Maxima, 33-year-old David K. Njuguna of Webster, is on trial on charges that include manslaughter and motor vehicle homicide in connection with the trooper's death.

Prosecutors allege Njuguna was high on marijuana when his vehicle struck Clardy's cruiser. The defense contends Njuguna suffered a seizure immediately before the crash.

Under cross-examination by Njuguna's lawyer, Peter L. Ettenberg, Sorrentino agreed that he told state police investigators on the day of the crash that the Maxima traveled for "a tiny bit" in the breakdown lane after it had straightened out and before it hit the cruiser.

According to earlier testimony in Njuguna's jury-waived trial before Judge Janet Kenton-Walker, Njuguna bought marijuana at a medical dispensary in Brookline about an hour before the crash, and after the crash state police investigators found marijuana in the Maxima.

Njuguna was injured in the crash, and tests performed on blood that was drawn from him at the hospital showed he had THC, a component of marijuana, in his system, Kerrie Donovan, a supervisor at the state police crime lab in Sudbury, testified Wednesday.

The start of the trial was delayed for more than a half-hour Wednesday morning after Kenton-Walker ordered everyone but court personnel, Ettenberg and his co-counsel, Jaclyn R. Greenhalgh, from the courtroom. The judge gave no explanation for the delay when the trial resumed.

Njuguna's trial is scheduled to continue Thursday.