Former Fairhaven football star sentenced in 2016 crash

Aug. 14--FALL RIVER -- A former Fairhaven High football star will spend the next 90 days in the Bristol County House of Correction after pleading guilty Monday to leaving the scene of a 2016 crash with injuries, the District Attorney's office said.

Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Perrino gave William J. Pires, 24, formerly of Fairhaven, now of Wareham, a one-year sentence to the House of Correction with 90 days to serve, according to Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III. The balance of the sentence is suspended for a year.

Pires must abstain from alcohol use and submit to random testing three times a day, Miliote said.

The DA's office recommended a sentence of two years in the House of Correction with six months to serve and the balance suspended for two years, he said.

Pires pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of personal injury, according to a spokeswoman in the clerk's office at Superior Court. A charge of negligent operation of a motor vehicle was "nol prossed," or not prosecuted by the DA.

He was charged with injuring two pedestrians, Christine Machado, 40, of Fairhaven and Terrence Hope, 50, of New Bedford in a hit-and-run accident just after 2 a.m. on Feb. 6, 2016, in the area of Sycamore and Morton streets, Fairhaven. Machado was the more seriously injured of two, suffering brain trauma, a broken pelvis, a shattered ankle, two broken legs, four broken rubs and two collapsed lungs.

Authorities were led to Pires' possible involvement in the crash when he and family members tried to get his car, a grey, 2001 Mercedes, fixed on the day of the accident.

At Pires' arraignment in New Bedford District Court on Feb. 19, 2016, a prosecutor said the family called a New Bedford automotive company and asked if they could get his cracked windshield repaired. The owner of the company noticed significant front end damage when Pires drove the car to the repair shop.

The owner said Pires acted suspicious and did not want his insurance company to be involved, the prosecutor said. After learning of the accident, the owner called the family and said he was going to call police.

State and Fairhaven police got a search warrant and seized the car, according to court records.

Through their investigation, police learned Pires was returning from New Bedford on the night of the incident and surveillance, taken at 2:02 a.m. from north of the scene, depicts a vehicle that matched the grey 2001 Mercedes he was driving, the prosecutor said.

Pires was a standout football player for Fairhaven High School in the 2011 and 2012 seasons and earned an honorable mention selection for The Standard-Times' Male Athlete of the Year honor in 2012. In 2011, he was named MVP of the Dartmouth-Fairhaven football game when he scored two touchdowns in a 21-14 victory.

Follow Curt Brown on Twitter @CurtBrown_SCT

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