SALEM, Mass. — A Somerville man charged in connection with a wrong-way crash in Saugus in 2021 that claimed the life of a 19-year-old nursing student is slated to learn his fate on Tuesday.
William Leger faces a sentencing hearing in Salem Superior Court at 2 p.m. after pleading guilty to charges of manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation, unarmed robbery, receiving a stolen vehicle, and driving with a suspended license in connection with the death of Ashley Forward, of Lynn.
Leger’s sentencing also comes exactly five years to the day of Forward’s death on June 9, 2021, and one week after he pled guilty to the charges just as his trial was set to begin.
Prosecutors say that after Leger robbed a 7-Eleven on Lincoln Avenue in Saugus, he drove a stolen vehicle at a high rate of speed, the wrong way on Route 107, leading officers on a chase before crashing head-on into Forward. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A preliminary investigation found that the car Leger was driving, a grey 2013 Volkswagen Jetta, was reported stolen on June 2, 2021, to Lynn police, and that he was driving with a suspended license.
Leger was arrested at the scene of the wreck and taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A judge later ordered him held without bail.
Family members told Boston 25 News at the time that Forward had graduated from KIPP Academy a year before her death, and she had just finished her first year as a nursing student at Emmanuel College in Boston.
Michelle Luongo, Forward’s mother, filed a lawsuit against the Town of Saugus in September 2024, alleging that the “negligent” and “shocking” actions of two police officers involved in the pursuit of Leger caused the deadly crash.
Luongo believes her daughter would still be here today if it hadn’t been for the police chase.
“By provoking him on and on and chasing him, there was no need for that,” Luongo said. “It’s not all about my daughter, it’s about doing what’s right for everybody.”
Forward’s family members said after her death that she was on her way from her boyfriend’s house to get her uniform to start her shift at Target when she was hit and killed, just three miles from her front door.it
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