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Driver, 18, Indicted in Deaths of Four Passengers

Indictment Alleges Driver Was Reckless and Under Influence of Marijuana

What to Know

  • Naiquan D. Hamilton of Stoughton for four counts each of Manslaughter by Motor Vehicle and a number of other charges.
  • Passengers were Christopher Desir, 17, of Brockton, Eric Sarblah, 17, of Stoughton, and Nick Joyce, 16, of Stoughton, and David Bell, 17.
  • Hamilton will be arraigned on the charges in Brockton Juvenile Court at a later date.

A young Stoughton man faces manslaughter and a host of other charges in connection with a driving incident that left four of his passengers dead in a single-car crash in East Bridgewater in May. 

A Plymouth County Grand Jury indicted 18-year-old Naiquan D. Hamilton of Stoughton for four counts each of Manslaughter by Motor Vehicle, Motor Vehicle Homicide by Operating Under the Influence, and Motor Vehicle Homicide by Reckless Operation, according to a news release issued by Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz today.

The crash occurred the afternoon of May 19. East Bridgewater Police responded to 911 calls for a report of a car into a tree in the area of West Street/Route 106.

Rescue workers found a single motor vehicle with five male occupants. Three passengers were pronounced dead at the scene. The passengers  were identified as Christopher Desir, 17, of Brockton; Eryck Sablah, 17, of Stoughton; and Nicholas Joyce, 16, of Stoughton. An additional passenger was taken to Brockton Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was later identified as David Bell, 17, of Stoughton.

Hamilton, who was 17 years old at the time of the crash, was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton before he was transported to Boston Medical Center for treatment of his injuries.

A witness at the scene said the crash sounded as if lightning had hit the tree outside of her home.

Another witness, Rocky Savino says the teens drove on his front yard, plowed through his stone wall, hit a neighbor's porch and then a tree before landing upside down, trapping them all inside.

“It sounded like a truck. Like a big bang. Like two, three bangs,” he said.

East Bridgewater Police notified State Police Detectives in the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office and the State Police CARS Unit and an investigation began. That indictments allege that Hamilton was driving recklessly and under the influence of marijuana at the time of the fatal crash. 
Hamilton will be arraigned on the charges in Brockton Juvenile Court at a later date. 
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Russell Eonas and Stephanie Mello and was investigated by State Police Detectives assigned to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office, East Bridgewater Police, and the Massachusetts State Police CARS Unit.

During a vigil held at the school following the accident, family and friends remembered the teens were good friends and active in athletics.

Bell was a member of the school's football, basketball, and track team and had recently set his personal record in the high jump.

"He was my son. He was my heart," his mother Solange Bell said. "In school, what you saw in school is what you saw at home."

Joyce was a sophomore and played football with Bell. He is being remembered as a star athlete with a bright future in graphic design.

"He touched a lot of people in such a short amount of time. He's sorely, sorely going to be missed," said Joyce’s uncle, Mark Walker.

For the Joyce family, Saturday's crash is the second tragedy to strike in recent weeks. Joyce's cousin Christopher Joyce was murdered in Jamaica Plain just days before his college graduation at Salem State University.

Sarblah’s uncle, Columbus Okai, spoke about him, saying, "Eric was a very kind person, disciplined, and he will be missed."

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