ORANGE — A Leverett woman has been released on personal recognizance after answering to charges stemming from a fatal crash on Route 63 last April.
Mary Christine Nelson, 79, appeared in Orange District Court on March 12 via teleconference to plead not guilty to negligent operation of a motor vehicle and motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation. She is scheduled for a pretrial conference on May 18.
Kevin Douville, 57, of Belchertown, was killed on April 25, 2020, when the motorcycle he was riding with life partner Karen Rae Mercier was struck by a car driven by Nelson on Route 63, also known as Long Plain Road, the primary north-south artery between Montague and Amherst.
Mercier was injured in the crash and filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Hampshire Superior Court last month, seeking unspecified punitive damages from Nelson.
The lawsuit alleges wrongful death, conscious pain and suffering, and gross negligence against Nelson, asserting her actions while driving in the opposite lane on the state highway on April 25 caused the fatal crash.
“Nelson negligently attempted to take a left-hand turn into a driveway, directly into the path of the Douville motorcycle, causing a crash (that) resulted in the death of Kevin Douville,” the lawsuit alleges.
The accident forced the road’s closure between Depot and Long Hill roads for roughly four hours as the crash was investigated and the scene was cleared.
Leverett police, Sunderland police and the Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit assigned to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office responded to and investigated the incident, with help from State Police Crime Scene Services and State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section.