A Massachusetts woman charged in a crash that left one person dead faced a judge Wednesday.
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Danielle Mastro, 33, is charged with leaving the scene of a crash, motor vehicular homicide and driving with a suspended license after a multi-vehicle crash in Brockton that killed a 58-year-old Bridgewater woman.
On Tuesday, police were called to the crash scene where they found two heavily damaged vehicles and a dump truck lying on its side. Deborah Combra was taken to Brockton Hospital in traumatic arrest. She later died. Combra's friend, Maria Jette, was also taken to the hospital. Her daughter said she is recovering from a broken leg.
Court documents detailed the interview between Mastro and detectives. Mastro told police she was calling someone, not paying attention to where she was going, and rear-ended someone. Police asked if she was texting or calling, to which she replied, "I think I was texting. But I called and texted pretty close together, so ... it would be hard to say."
When police asked who she was calling, Mastro said, "My drug dealer. I'm ****ing dope-sick as **** right now."
"It makes you mad because my mom lost her good friend," said Sasha Lewis, Jette's daughter. "It's just bad and it shows why people shouldn't be texting and doing stuff while they're driving."
Mastro told police she hadn't eaten in two days. When they offered her something to eat or drink, she declined and told them she hoped she would be out of there soon enough.
When asked what she remembered about the crash, Mastro said she remembered the airbag deploying in her face and that she realized she couldn't drive anymore.
"She is a danger to the community," Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said.
"Let me get the **** out of the car so I can try to go get my **** before I have to go deal with the cops," Mastro said.
She told police she was going to meet up with her dealer before the police stopped her. Mastro told police that she used heroin, a drug commonly known as Molly, or whatever she could get her hands on and that she drank a "****-ton of vodka" and at least six nips the day of the crash.
"When you think of an individual who chooses to go forward and is so concerned about themselves, you can call it their addiction or whatever, but the problem is they put their needs first ahead of public safety," Cruz said.
Earlier that day, Mastro was involved in a brief chase with police. She said her mother had called the police after she left with the car because she has a suspended license and said her mother didn't want to be liable for her driving without a license.
Detectives asked Mastro about the others involved in the crash and if she knew Combra had died. She said she knew she hit a car hard enough to make her airbags go off, but didn't know who else was involved and that she never even bothered to look at the damage on her car before she took off
Combra's family was in court Wednesday. They cried as the details in the case were read. Prosecutors asked the judge for $100,000 cash bail as Mastro entered a plea of not guilty.
The defense asked for $25,000 bail and the opportunity to enter rehab, saying Mastro has been struggling with addiction for years.
The judge set bail at $50,000 cash.
"Right now the best thing that could happen to keep people safe is keep this girl off the road. The only way we're going to do that it appears, is keep her in jail," Cruz said.
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