Criminal Charges Dropped Against Woman Involved in Coady Tow Truck Crash

File photograph. (Image licensed by Ingram Image.)

Charges against the Lawrence woman charged in the death of tow truck driver Dan Coady were dropped this week. (File photograph)

The Essex County District Attorney’s Office has dropped the criminal case against the Lawrence woman charged in connection with the March death of tow truck driver Dan Coady.

DA spokeswoman Carrie Kimball-Monahan told WHAV charges against 28-year-old Shiina Dionne, of Lawrence, were dismissed Wednesday because she tested negative for drugs and alcohol at the time of the crash. Following a State Police investigation, Dionne was found to be driving responsibly and had to contend with black ice on Interstate 495 during the accident.

Dionne had been charged with operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence.

Coady, of Coady’s Towing, was standing to the left of his truck in the breakdown lane on I-495 south, loading one of the vehicles involved in a two-car crash onto his flatbed, when he was hit by a passing Pontiac G6 traveling southbound. The Pontiac also hit an unoccupied BMW that was also in the breakdown lane.

When the Pontiac, allegedly driven by Dionne became disabled after the collision, it was subsequently struck by a Hyundai Santa Fe driving past the crash scene.

The incident remains under investigation by State Police.