The Plymouth DA’s office is fighting a motion from the defense in the Hingham Apple Store deadly crash, calling the defense’s request a “fishing expedition.”
Bradley Rein’s defense team is trying to blame the fatal crash on Toyota technology, claiming that the vehicle’s software caused the SUV to unintentionally accelerate and slam into the store.
Rein’s defense lawyer recently filed a motion directed at Herb Chambers Toyota of Boston — seeking “All customer complaints of unintended acceleration for all Toyota models for model years 2015-2022” and “All customer complaints of vehicle speed increasing without operator applying pressure to the accelerator years 2015-2022.”
But prosecutors with the Plymouth County District Attorney’s on Tuesday filed a motion in opposition to this defense request, calling it “overbroad, vague, irrelevant to the defendant’s case.”
Rein is accused of slamming his vehicle into the Apple Store, killing one person and seriously injuring 22 others. He has been indicted on one count of murder in the second degree and one count of motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation in the death of 65-year-old Kevin Bradley, who lived in Wayne, N.J.
The prosecutors in their Tuesday motion noted that Rein gave two recorded interviews with police on the day of the crash, lasting more than 60 minutes in total.
“At no time did the defendant claim that his vehicle accelerated without the accelerator pedal being pressed,” the prosecutors wrote. “Instead, the defendant stated that his foot became ‘stuck’ on the accelerator pedal.
” ‘On my car, um, it’s a 4Runner – and this has happened before – is, is, my right foot gets stuck on the accelerator,’ ” Rein allegedly told police. ” ‘It doesn’t- it’s, it’s like how can that happen? But the design of it is like it kinda gets, your foot can get sort of stuck in between the pedal and then to the right of it. And that’s what happened. It’s happened to me before once.’ ”
The Plymouth DA prosecutors had a section in their motion titled, “Fishing expedition.”
“With this motion, the defendant casts the broadest possible net in the hopes of finding something, currently unknown to him, that will assist in his defense,” they wrote, adding, “It is a fishing expedition, and it should be denied.”
Rein’s defense attorney Joan Fund said she will be filing a response to the DA’s motion.
Rein allegedly drove his SUV through the Hingham Apple Store’s plate glass storefront window at around 10:45 a.m. on Nov. 21, 2022, leaving a gaping hole in the storefront.
Hingham Police responded to the crash in the Derby Shops after receiving 911 calls about a vehicle plowing into the store’s window, with multiple people injured.
Upon arrival, first responders found Apple employees and other bystanders treating victims who needed urgent care. Many victims were transported to South Shore Hospital. Bradley was pronounced dead at the scene.
The next date for the court case is June 27.
