National Grid supervisor charged with motor vehicle homicide was ordered not to drive in state

By Elaine Thompson, Telegram & Gazette

WESTBOROUGH — The National Grid regional supervisor charged with motor vehicle homicide after a backhoe he was hauling fell off a trailer and killed a 70-year-old woman in a passing car was ordered to not drive in Massachusetts.

Jeffrey W. Fisher, 50, of Coventry, R.I., was arraigned in Westborough District Court today.

Fisher was test driving a National Grid dump truck on Aug. 2, 2011, on Interstate 495 southbound in Southborough when he lost control, causing the backhoe to fall onto a passing a minivan.

Xiaoyun Jiang, 70, of Westford was killed, and three members of her family were injured. The family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

According to court records, Fisher told investigators that National Grid employees had been complaining of brake problems on newly acquired dump trucks, and he was out test-driving one. He had made two trips on his test drive, one with the dump truck and trailer, and then the fatal second trip with the dump truck, trailer, and backhoe.

According to the family’s lawsuit, the new dump trucks had been banned from towing heavy equipment about a month before the accident because of employees’ complaints that they were difficult to control in those situations. Fisher, however, has said he was directed by a top executive to test drive the dump truck, which he did in heavy Friday-afternoon traffic.

A motorist who witnessed the crash told authorities that the dump truck and trailer being operated by Fisher caught her attention because of the quick lane change it made from the right to the middle lane.

The woman allegedly said Mr. Fisher “squeezed” in between two cars in the middle lane. She said although his vehicle was not speeding, she categorized the lane change as being dangerous, according to court records.

Fisher is charged with motor vehicle homicide by negligence and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

In court today, Judge Vito Virzi ordered his license suspended. The judge scheduled an Oct. 15 pretrial hearing.