Charge upgraded to murder in Taunton crash that killed Middleboro mom

TAUNTON — The man accused of causing a fatal Taunton crash while fleeing a drug bust at speeds of up to 101 mph is now facing a second-degree murder charge, according to the Bristol County district attorney’s office.

Hector Bannister-Sanchez, 34, of Norton and Medford, was ordered held without bail at his arraignment Tuesday, Jan. 10 in Fall River Superior Court.

Bannister-Sanchez was arraigned on new indictments charging him with second-degree murder and reckless motor vehicle homicide connected to the Nov. 7 crash on Kingman Road in Taunton which claimed the life of 54-year-old mother Lori Medeiros of Middleboro, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn said in a written statement.

On Nov. 8, Bannister-Sanchez was arraigned in Taunton District Court on charges of manslaughter, reckless motor vehicle homicide and negligent motor vehicle homicide in connection with the deadly high-speed crash and ordered held without bail.

But the manslaughter charge has now been upgraded in Superior Court to the more serious charge of second-degree murder.

What led up to the events of Nov. 7?

The defendant was the target of a four-month long drug investigation leading up to the events of Nov. 7, Assistant District Attorney Kaitlyn O’Leary told the court at his arraignment Tuesday, Jan. 10 in Superior Court.

Investigators had obtained a court-authorized GPS for the defendant’s Toyota Highlander and intended to stop him as part of the culmination of their investigation on Nov. 7, the DA’s office said. After conducting surveillance of him traveling to his alleged stash house in Norton, they believed he was driving to complete a drug deal with a frequent customer in Middleboro.

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As investigators parked behind him and approached the defendant’s vehicle, they announced their presence as police and demanded that he show his hands, according to the DA's office. However, rather than stop, the defendant fled. O’Leary told the court the defendant drove through a front yard, crashed into the property’s front landing, and forced a state trooper to get out of the way in order to avoid being hit.

Despite not being chased by police, the defendant proceeded to drive at sustained and extremely high speeds as he fled through Middleboro, Lakeville, and ultimately into Taunton, the DA’s office said. The court-authorized GPS affixed to his vehicle showed him traveling at speeds as high as 101 mph towards the beginning of his flight and 84 mph as he approached the turn onto Kingman Street in Taunton.

O’Leary said witnesses saw the defendant driving at dangerous and excessive speeds, crossing in and out of oncoming traffic as he did so, and forcing other vehicles on the road out of the way in order to avoid getting hit. He traveled at these high speeds on routes that were at times densely populated with other vehicles and lined with houses, businesses and at least one school, the DA’s office said.

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Data obtained with a search warrant from the event data recorder on the defendant’s Toyota Highlander revealed that approximately five seconds prior to crashing into the red Ford Fusion driven by Lori Medeiros, Bannister-Sanchez was driving 101 miles per hour on a street where the unposted speed limit is 35 mph, the DA’s office said.

Lori Medeiros was trapped inside the Ford Fusion and was ultimately taken to Morton Hospital in Taunton, where she was pronounced dead.

After the defendant collided into Lori Medeiros’ vehicle, the witness who had been driving behind her saw the driver and sole occupant of the Highlander, whom she described as a Black man approximately in his 30s with dreads or braids, grab a black backpack from inside the Highlander and take off running away from the direction of the crash site. He fled on foot from the crash but was apprehended a short time later on South Precinct Street, the DA’s office said.

O’Leary told the court that the backpack the defendant grabbed from the Highlander contained $16,350 in cash and that the defendant’s wallet and cell phones were found in the Highlander.

The defendant is due back in court for a pretrial conference on Feb. 22.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton: Hector Bannister-Sanchez charged with murder in fatal crash