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Investigators describe impact of crash that killed State Trooper Clardy

Day four of the trial for the man accused of killing a Massachusetts State Trooper revealed new details of how bad the crash was.

Trooper Thomas Clardy had pulled someone over when prosecutors say David Njuguna careened into the back of his cruiser on the Mass Pike.

Prosecutors say Njuguna was high at the time, while his defense says he was having a medical seizure.

Captain John Pinkham, Mass. State Police Collision Analysis & Reconstruction Team was on the stand all morning Thursday and testified that using a number of calculations, they determined Trooper Clardy's cruiser was struck and the impact caused it to reach nearly 37 mph from a dead stop.

He also testified what else they learned from the cruiser's onboard computer.

"It showed it was going 0 miles per hour. Had rpm that showed it was at an idle, it was in park, trooper Clardy's, his seatbelt was not buckled, the steering wheel was turned 84 degrees to the left. Meaning he had turned the wheel," said Pinkham.

In the weeks after the deadly crash, investigators shut down the area of the Pike where it happened and tried to recreate it.

"We drove through the scene multiple times, videoing from the perspective of the driver of the Nissan and the videotape the vehicle from behind," said Pinkham. "We actually found parts of the Nissan lodged under the cruiser forward towards the passenger compartment."

On Friday, a defense witness is expected to testify before the prosecution rests.

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