By George P. Hassett

The man allegedly responsible for the May 27 car crash that claimed two lives and left a third victim seriously injured was arraigned in Superior Court Monday, July 30, and charged with manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide and failure to stop for a police officer.

Javier Morales, 29, of Somerville, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Judge Wendie Gershengorn ordered him held on $500,000 cash bail. Prosecutors say Morales committed a marked lanes violation May 27, and when police tried to pull him over, fled at high speed through Somerville and drove through traffic lights and stop signs. The chase ended at Highland Road and Kidder Avenue when Morales slammed into a taxicab and killed its driver Walid Chahine, of Methuen, and Paul V. Farris of Medford.

Chahine and Farris both died from the accident. Farris‚Äô girlfriend Katelyn Hoyt, 21, of Medford, suffered serious injuries, according to prosecutors.   

“We allege that this defendant had numerous opportunities to stop, yet continued to make decisions to drive unsafely at high rates of speed through densely-populated areas,” said District Attorney Gerard T. Leone. “By ignoring the simplest of traffic rules designed to avoid this type of tragedy, his reckless actions resulted in the tragic deaths of two innocent victims and caused serious injuries to another.”

On May 27 at 1:20 a.m., Morales was driving a Mercury Mountaineer SUV in Everett, according to police and prosecutors. A State Trooper allegedly saw the SUV make a left-hand turn from the third travel lane of Route 16, cutting across the left-hand turn lane before crossing over Route 16 eastbound and forcing cars coming in that direction to stop abruptly to avoid collision. The trooper activated his lights, pulled behind the vehicle, and attempted to stop the vehicle for the violation, prosecutors said.

But Morales would not stop, according to authorities. He allegedly sped up, traveled through a red light and onto Route 16 headed westbound. Prosecutors allege that he drove through red light after red light and never slowed or stopped for the police cruiser traveling behind it.

As Morales entered Somerville, he continued to speed through several stop signs, drove through the Powderhouse Rotary going in the wrong direction and avoided collision with another car by driving on the sidewalk, according to prosecutors. He then allegedly turned onto Kidder Avenue where he is believed to have caused the deaths of Chahine and Farris by slamming into the taxi.

Preliminary analysis by the State Police determined that Morales was driving 60 to 70 miles per hour at the time of the collision and Chahine was driving the cab at approximately 20 miles per hour. Farris, Hoyt and Chahine were all wearing seat belts when Morales slammed into the cab, prosecutors said. But the violent impact tore Farris’ seat belt and ejected him from the cab. Farris was pronounced dead that morning and Chahine died of injuries suffered during the crash a week later.

Morales’ next court date is Aug. 29 at 2 p.m. for a pretrial hearing in courtroom 8B of Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge.