A Massachusetts man is facing charges after authorities say he intentionally hit a 26-year-old woman with his car in a road rage incident in Hopkinton on Thursday night.
Ryan Sweatt, 36, of Milford, is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, operating to endanger and a marked lanes violation, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office announced Friday morning.
The district attorney's office said their preliminary investigation suggests that Sweatt was driving a Honda Civic on Route 85 in Hopkinton on Thursday night when he became engaged in an apparent road rage incident with another vehicle. At some point, some of the occupants of the other vehicle, including the victim, exited the car. Sweatt then made a U-turn at a high rate of speed and struck the victim in the road.
The victim was taken to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries, prosecutors said. Family members have identified her as 26-year-old Destini Decoff.
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Her mother posted an update on Facebook Friday, calling out Sweatt.
"With every ounce of my being I hope that [EXPLETIVE] burns directly in hell! She was in surgery all night," she wrote. "If anyone can fight through this it absolutely is Destini.”
Sweatt was arraigned Friday in Framingham District Court. He told police a group of people in a car behind him got out at the intersection fo Granite and Hayden Rowe streets and threatened to kill him, with one allegedly pulling out a knife.
Sweatt reportedly drove away, but that's when prosecutors said he made the conscious decision to turn around.
Witnesses who rushed out to help say though it may not be clear who started it, what happened in that moment was.
"He chose to turn around, chose to come back. He knew what he was doing when he went towards that girl," Brett Martin told NBC10 Boston.
The investigation into the incident is ongoing and involves the district attorney's office, Hopkinton police and state police.
