Chelmsford, MA: DA: Drunken driver ran over, killed wife in driveway

By O’Ryan Johnson
Friday, July 22, 2011 - Updated 2 days ago
E-mail Print (12) Comments Text size Share
A 73-year-old Chelmsford man was arraigned yesterday on charges that he ran down his wife, killing her, while drunk behind the wheel, authorities said.

Harry Conover Jr., was released on personal recognizance with the conditions he does not drive or drink while on pretrial probation. He pleaded not guilty to felony motor vehicle homicide and operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. This is Conover’s second drunken driving charge, prosecutors said.

“Any time you get behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol, you heighten the risk of danger to yourself and others,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone said in a statement. “Here that appears to have occurred in a very tragic way, with his impaired driving resulting in the death of the defendant’s wife.”


Prosecutors said Conover was in a fight with his wife, Sandra Conover, 73, Wednesday night when he stormed from the home and got into his car. Leone said what happened next is not clear, but the woman was struck with the car as Conover drove away.

“The exact circumstances of how and why the defendant’s wife was struck by the defendant remain under investigation, and our condolences remain with her friends and family,” Leone said in the statement.

When Conover returned to his Cranberry Lane home, he found his wife lying in the driveway, prosecutors said.

The woman was taken to Lowell General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A message left at Conover’s house was not immediately returned.