By Chris Cassidy
DANVERS ¬— Moments after his SUV struck and killed a North Beverly woman in June, a seemingly emotionless Thomas Lantych repeatedly told state troopers he was a part-time Rowley police officer and commented that the crash "is not good publicity for the department," according to state police reports.
Lantych, 29, of Danvers, was arraigned in Salem District Court on Wednesday on one count of motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation. He is also a Beverly firefighter.
Linda Robinson was driving her Doberman pinscher, Brady, to an animal hospital in North Andover on June 7. While Robinson was heading southbound on Conifer Hill Drive in Danvers, police believe the dog went into "medical distress." Police say Robinson pulled her vehicle "as far as possible to the right," stopped and turned on the car's hazard lights.
Police believe that the Cadillac Escalade operated by Lantych struck Robinson as she was getting back in the car. She was taken to Beverly Hospital but died from her injuries that day.
At first, Lantych appeared to try to shift blame, allegedly telling a state trooper that Robinson was in the middle of the road.
When the trooper noticed the right side of Lantych's car damaged, he asked Lantych how Robinson could have been standing in the middle of the road if he struck her with the right side of his car.
"I don't know. I didn't see her. She came out of nowhere," Lantych allegedly told the trooper.
But the state police report states the collision was "overwhelmingly avoidable," and that Lantych had plenty of room — an entire travel lane — to safely pass Robinson's vehicle.
"A reasonable and prudent person under the same circumstances would have effortlessly avoided this fatal crash," reads the report.
Troopers say Lantych also made several comments to them without being questioned.
He told them more than once that he was a Rowley police officer and remarked that the incident "is not good publicity for the department."
He also told them he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from two tours of duty in Iraq and that he was undergoing emotional counseling.
At one point, he allegedly pointed out to troopers that he had to move his car farther up the road to allow room for emergency vehicles.
"I don't want you to think I stopped there because I was going too fast and was unable to stop," he allegedly told a trooper.
Police say Lantych showed no signs of remorse.
"At no time during this incident did I observe Lantych display any emotion," Trooper Stevie Browning wrote in his report.
Lantych, an EMT, did help treat Robinson in the moments before Danvers firefighters arrived.
His attorney could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Judge Richard Mori has ordered Lantych not to drive until the case is settled. He's scheduled back in court Feb. 2 for a pretrial conference.
