Warren woman charged with OUI; link to Tiverton bus crash under investigation

Two passengers, one a child, still being treated for serious injuries

Posted 12/3/18

A Warren woman is scheduled to appear in Taunton District Court Monday morning on charges that include driving under the influence in connection with a Saturday night crash on Route 24 south in …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Warren woman charged with OUI; link to Tiverton bus crash under investigation

Two passengers, one a child, still being treated for serious injuries

Posted

A Warren woman is scheduled to appear in Taunton District Court Monday morning on charges that include driving under the influence (second offense) in connection with a Saturday night crash on Route 24 south in Berkley, Mass., at the same time (9:45 p.m. Saturday) and place that a Tiverton school bus went off the highway and into the woods, injuring several people.

Christy Gilpatrick, 27, of Warren, who had been driving a Subaru Impreza, was held overnight at the New Bedford jail after bail was set at $10,000. Massachusetts State Police have not yet said whether her accident was connected with the bus crash. She is also charged with negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and a marked lanes violation.

Massachusetts State Police say that 23 people were aboard the bus at the time including adults and children. Two of the passengers, one of them a child, police say, were taken to Rhode Island Hospital with srious injuries. The child was later transported to a Boston hospital. Other occupants were treated for lesser injuries at Charlton and Morton hospitals in Massachusetts.

The bus was headed back to Tiverton after a bus company trip to LaSalette Shrine in Tiverton. Passengers were employees of First Student Bus Company, Tiverton, and their families.

The bus spun around to face the wrong direction and went into the woods, coming to a stop against trees in an upright position, Berkley Fire Chief Scott Fournier said.

The chief was the first firefighter to arrive and said he was greeted by the startling sight of people sitting and lying on the ground near the bus, two of them babies. Most had gotten out of the bus on their own or with the help of fellow passengers, he said.

Bad as the crash was, it coule easily have been worse, the chief said.

“They are lucky,” he added — “school buses don’t have seat belts.” The chief decline to specify the nature of the injuries.

A mass casualty incident was declared, which brought mutual aid in the form of fire trucks and ambulances from over a dozen cities and towns.

Ambulances from Alert Ambulance, Brewster Ambulance, Dighton, Raynham, Fall River, Somerset, Swansea, Rehoboth, Freetown, Seekonk, Norton, Mansfield, Westport, North Attleboro, Bridgewater, Lakeville, Middleboro, West Bridgewater, Canton, Avon and Randolph were summoned to the scene. Taunton police and fire and Tiverton fire also responded.

The highway was closed for over an hour with vehicles detoured off the highway at exit 11. One lane was re-opened southbound just after 11 p.m.

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.