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Investigation continues into company party that preceded two deaths

Boston 25 News continues to investigate what happened at a state contractor company holiday party that turned into a deadly crash and other arrests.

The following 911 call came into Rockland Police in the early hours of December 29, the morning after a holiday party with tragic outcomes on the South Shore.

  • Dispatcher: "What is going on there?"
  • Caller: “There is a gentleman in one of the rooms that is having trouble breathing.”

Police were called to the Rockland Comfort Inn for a medical emergency. Joseph Amaral was found unresponsive with blood in his mouth and bruises to his head, according to police reports. Amaral was later pronounced dead.

People in the hotel room tell Boston 25 news the Hi-Way Safety Systems employee had just left a company party in Pembroke. They say he went into surgery that night and went into cardiac arrest on the operating table.

Sources tell Boston 25 News that Amaral was an employee of Hi-Way Safety Systems and got into a fight at the Hi-Way Safety Systems party. Since the December 28th party, two people have died: Amaral and the teen who police say Gregory Goodsell killed in a crash while he was driving drunk.

The Plymouth County district attorney is now looking at both Amaral and Claire’s death as possibly tied to that holiday party. Court documents allege that Goodsell told police he was coming from a holiday party at his boss’s home when the fatal crash happened.

Boston 25 also obtained a 911 call involving another arrest after the party:

  • Caller: “There is a couple on my street screaming and yelling, walking up and down the street. You can tell they are drunk he is just swearing up a storm fighting”
  • Dispatcher: "Are they getting physical at all?
  • Caller: “No, he is threatening to punch her, but she is in his face too so.”

In that incident, Hanover Police say Francis Paiva was arrested for OUI after he got into a fight with his girlfriend. Paiva told police he just came from a party in Pembroke and Boston 25 confirmed he works at Hi-Way Safety Systems.

The Plymouth County DA told Boston 25 News that they are still investigating the deadly crash and the party.

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