Somerville attorney Frank Privitera was led into a Somerville police van in Union Square on Monday after allegedly violating the terms of his probation. News Staff Somerville attorney Frank Privitera was arrested Monday night in Union Square for allegedly violating the terms of the plea deal that helped him avoid trial for the 2005 death of a 22-year-old Tufts University student. On Nov. 22, 2005, during his drive home to Arlington from his Union Square law office, Privitera allegedly struck Tufts senior Boryana Damyanova while she was in a crosswalk, knocking her from his windshield into the path of an oncoming truck. She was pronounced dead an hour later at Somerville Hospital.

In April 2008, Privitera agreed to a plea deal that stipulated he lose his driver's license for five years, which he at one point called a "death sentence," while not receiving jail time or admitting guilt.

Damyanova, an international relations and economics major from Sophia, Bulgaria, was in her senior year and had already accepted a job offer from JP Morgan Chase, according to the university. In 2008, Tufts established an award for corporate social responsibility in her name.

At a 2008 hearing, Privitera told a Somerville News reporter that Damyanova was to blame for the accident, saying, "If [Damyanova] hadn't been walking across the street negligently talking on her cell phone, none of this would have happened."

Officer Steve Johnson, who investigated the case in 2005, saw Privitera driving on Friday, Feb. 5, according to police. Somerville District Court Judge Maurice R. Flynn, who battled Privitera in the courtroom over the terms of the plea deal in 2008, issued a warrant for Privitera's arrest on Monday morning.

Privitera surrendered to Somerville police that night in Union Square, spending time in a holding cell at police headquarters before being taken to Cambridge Hospital because of health concerns related to his diabetes, police said.

Privitera, 75, was released from Cambridge Hospital Tuesday afternoon. He then appeared before Flynn, although details on a probation violation hearing were not available before deadline.

Privitera, who owns blocks of land that include 422 Mystic Ave., 59 Union Square, 88 Beacon Street and 9 Davis Square, served as an assistant city solicitor under former Mayor Lawrence F. Bretta from 1962 to November 1966 before taking over as head of the city's legal department for a year. He founded this newspaper in 1968 and was its first publisher.

He was unavailable for comment.