David Curran/Satellite News Service/CWN (used with permission)
CENTERVILLE – A man due to be in Barnstable District Court this past Monday in connection with an August 2022 fatal crash in Centerville has drowned.
Ipswich Police Chief Paul Nikas and Fire Chief Paul Parisi reported that a 72-year-old Ipswich man who drowned in Plum Island Sound on Wednesday afternoon has been identified as Richard P. Collins.
Ipswich statement: On Wednesday, July 26, at approximately 3 PM, the Ipswich Police and Fire Departments were notified that workers at the Ipswich Bay Yacht Club, 124 N. Ridge Road, spotted an individual in the water in the area of the Yacht Club’s mooring area just off shore. Ipswich Police immediately launched their marine unit and located Collins, who was quickly returned to shore at the Yacht Club’s dock. Police, Fire and ActionEMS units performed CPR and other lifesaving measures before Collins was taken to Beverly Hospital, where he was subsequently pronounced dead. Collins appears to have been swimming at Clark Beach in Ipswich.
The death appears to be an accidental drowning, but remains under investigation by the Ipswich Police Department and Massachusetts State Police detectives attached to the Essex District Attorney’s Office.
Collins was charged in the alleged August 16th, 2022 hit and run crash on Route 28 in Marstons Mills that left Motorcyclist Sam Needham (right) mortally wounded. Barnstable Police confirm Collins is one and the same. He allegedly fled the scene but was located a short time later at an Osterville residence several miles from the crash scene and was arrested on is charges of Motor Vehicle Homicide – OUI Liquor and Negligent Operation, Leaving the Scene of an Crash with Personal Injury or Death, Negligent Operation of a Motor Vehicle, and 2 other traffic violations.
