A Marine veteran from Massachusetts was killed in a horrific crash early Saturday morning as he drove home after visiting his wife and newborn daughter in the hospital, officials said.
Barnstable police officials said officers were called just after midnight to a head-on collision in Cotuit, a village in the town of Barnstable on Cape Cod. The preliminary investigation indicated that a 22-year-old Fall River man was driving a 2000 Toyota sedan when it crossed the center line and smashed head-on into the 2012 GMC SUV driven by Kevin Quinn, 32, of Mashpee.
The first-time father had just left Cape Cod Hospital, where he spent time with his wife, Kara, and their 3-day-old daughter, who they named Logan Audrey. According to the Cape Cod Times, Quinn was supposed to return to the hospital later that day to bring his wife and daughter home.
The Times reported that the driver of the Toyota, Mickey Rivera, was leading police on a chase when the fatal crash occurred. Cotuit firefighters arrived at the scene a few minutes later to find Rivera's car torn in half and on fire, the newspaper said.
Both he and a female passenger were ejected from the vehicle. Rivera died at the scene and his passenger, Jocelyn Goyette, 24, was taken to the hospital in critical condition, the Times said.
Quinn, who Fox News reported had to be extricated from his SUV with the Jaws of Life, was taken to South Shore Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Times reported that Rivera was due in court on Tuesday for a pretrial hearing on charges in the 2015 killing of a 20-year-old man in Falls River. He was charged with assault with intent to rob, attempted armed/masked robbery, conspiracy and witness intimidation by leading police, according to the Bristol County District Attorney's Office.
Rivera was out on bail at the time of the crash. It was unclear what started the police pursuit.
Friends who established a GoFundMe memorial fund in Quinn's honor described him as a combat veteran who was deployed twice to Afghanistan before "returning home to marry the love of his life, Kara Sullivan, of Yarmouth."
He also started his own excavation business a couple of years ago, the fundraising page read.
"Kevin was very much excited, but nervous, about being a father," the page read. "His daughter, Logan Audrey Quinn, (was) born on July 25 at 2:19 a.m."
"We all told him that he was going to do just fine as a dad and that we felt really bad for any guy that wanted to date his daughter when she was old enough," the page read.
As of Tuesday morning, the page had raised more than $232,000 in two days.
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