How Police Investigated Waltham Hit-And-Run

Blanca Contreras, , allegedly confessed to driving the car. That’s just one of the details emerging from about the Nov. 23 hit-and-run crash that killed 39-year-old Scott Coxall.

To better understand the following information, on how the crash occurred.

What Contreras And Her Husband Told Police (Source: Waltham Police Department)

• After the crash, police went to Contreras’s 19 Mt. Pleasant Street home and spoke with William Vasquez, Contreras’s husband.

• Vasquez, whom police have previously investigated for driving under the influence of alcohol, said the suspect vehicle was parked at the home in the hours prior to the crash. Vasquez said the damage was old and had been there since Contreras’s sister, Osman Herrera, purchased it. He also said Herrera is the only driver of the vehicle.

• Police then contacted Herrera, who was at work that day, who said he had driven his other vehicle to work and left the suspect vehicle at his home. He said the vehicle had not been damaged prior to his departure.
• Herrera also told police that neither Contreras nor Vasquez have state-issued driver’s licenses.

• At this point, police told Vasquez they believed that either he or Contreras were driving the suspect vehicle when it struck Coxall.

• Next, police spoke to Contreras, whom they found on a bed upstairs, holding the keys to the suspect vehicle. She was crying.

• Contreras told police she was driving the vehicle at the time of incident.

• At this point, Contreras and Vasquez voluntarily went to Waltham Police headquarters for further questioning.

• Contreras, during the interview, which was conducted in Spanish, admitted she did not have a driver’s license and was on her way to on Lexington Street when the crash occurred.

• “She stated she made the left turn from Mt. Pleasant Street onto School Street a little too fast and hit the parked car. She stated she then panicked and her car sped away. She stated a speeding green vehicle had cut her off and that vehicle had gone by her, into the intersection (of School and Church streets) first. She stated she went through the stop sign without stopping and she then took a right onto Lexington Street and drove home. She stated she did not see a pedestrian at any point and was unaware she had hit one [she was told by police],” the police report reads.

• Police next interviewed Vasquez who said green vehicle, which he said was a Ford Explorer, had cut them off as they were making the turn onto School Street. He, however, said the pair turned right onto Church Street and never drove through a stop sign.

• Next, police drove Vasquez and Contreras back over their route as they reconstructed it. When they approached the stop sign at School Street, Contreras said she proceeded straight through the intersection. “I,” the officer wrote in his report, “looked in the mirror and saw William looking at Blanca, shaking his head in a ‘no’ fashion, as he was pointing with his left index finger toward Church Street [indicting the couple had made a right turn]. It was my opinion that William was trying to coax Blanca into saying she had made the turn before hitting Coxall.”

• The officer then told William he believed he had made up the involvement of the green Ford Explorer. According to the report, Vasquez, in the aftermath of the accident, had overheard officers discussing a green Ford Explorer with matching damage. Police, however, later determined that vehicle was not involved in the crash. “William stated he had made up the story and that he was only trying to protect Blanca,” the report reads.

• Also, officers found blood on the suspect vehicle, which they sampled as evidence.

POSSIBILITY OF CONTRERAS NOT BEING THE DRIVER

• Several Patch readers have comment on related stories that Contreras was not actually dirving the vehicle. Her attorney, Gerard Walsh, would not comment when a Patch reporter queried him about it. Also, Middlesex County District Attorney spokesman Cara O'Brien, in response to Patch's inquires, reitterated the DA's allegations that Contreras was driving the vehicle.