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Trial begins for man accused of killing State Trooper Thomas Clardy

WORCESTER, Mass. — Three and a half years after Mass. State Police Trooper Thomas Clardy was struck and killed during a traffic stop on the Mass. Pike, the case is finally going to trial.

That trial began on Monday at Worcester Superior Court.

"I just told him I loved him and watched him back out of the driveway," said Reisa Clardy, the widow of Trooper Thomas Clardy.

Reisa Clardy spoke while testifying about the last time she saw her husband on the morning of March 16, 2016, hours before he was killed in a terrible crash during a traffic enforcement stop on the mass pike.

The man allegedly involved, David Njuguna, is facing a series of charges, including manslaughter.

Prosecutors allege Njuguna was high on medical marijuana when his Nissan slammed into Clardy's State Police SUV at a speed of at least 81 miles an hour.

Related: Trial starts Monday for man accused of killing state trooper in crash

They further allege that Njuguna had just picked up four medical marijuana joints in Brookline before the crash and that he had marijuana in his system.

"His impaired capacity to operate a motor vehicle is the result of his ingestion of marijuana and, in so doing, crashing into Trooper Clardy, causing his death," prosecutors said.

But Njuguna's attorney is blaming the crash not on marijuana, but instead suggesting Njuguna suffered a seizure.

"If David Njuguna suffered a seizure when he was in an arc across three lanes of traffic and, [in] a one in a million shot, struck and killed Tom Clardy, that [explains] why and how this terrible tragedy happened," the defense said.