Man said to be responsible for deadly rollover arraigned after more than a year

FALL RIVER, Mass. — It’s been more than one year since a file cabinet fell out of a truck and caused a deadly crash, but on Wednesday the man said to be responsible for the crash was finally arraigned.

Prosecutors said 60-year-old Dennis Pavao never stopped after the cabinet fell out of his truck on I-195 in Somerset last February.  Phillip Imprescia was driving an SUV at the time, and when he swerved to avoid the cabinet his vehicle rolled over, killing him.

“If he had pulled over from the start we wouldn't be going through any of this process but I expected that from a coward,” Phillip’s brother Richard Imprescia said.

On Wednesday, Pavao was arraigned via Skype from his hospital bed at Brigham and Women’s in Boston.

Richard said the arraignment was supposed to happen months ago, but it kept getting postponed due to Pavao's health.

“It's probably the fifth time that we actually came here for an arraignment,” Richard said.

Court paperwork says Pavao was aware he caused the collision, and lied to investigators when they first questioned him.

“That's what really hurts me the most, my brother is gone, it hurts me, it hurts bad.  I just can't believe a human being can do something like this and walk away,” Richard Imprescia said.

Cox Media Group