Press Release  Man charged in fatal motor vehicle collision

Pittsfield — A Southfield man was arrested and charged with motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence following a collision that killed a motorcyclist on Wednesday near 199 Canaan Road in Sheffield.

According to a preliminary police investigation, Kristopher H. Laine, 39, was operating a pick-up truck at around 3 p.m. Wednesday, when it traveled into the opposite westbound lane of traffic and struck a motorcycle driven by John Howard, 70, of Bethlehem, Conn. Howard died at the scene.

Police arrested Laine and took him to the Sheffield Police Department. They filed a criminal complaint charging Laine with motor vehicle homicide while under the influence of alcohol and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, and issued him a citation for marked lanes violation. Laine was released on $1,000 bail set by the court clerk. An arraignment scheduled for Thursday morning in Southern Berkshire County District Court was continued for June 6 because Laine had sought medical treatment, according to a relative who spoke on his behalf in court on Thursday.

An investigation into the collision continues. Responding to the incident on Wednesday were Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington, State Police detectives assigned to the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office, the Sheffield Police Department, Sheffield Fire Department, New Marlborough Police Department, State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, State Police Crime Scene Services Section, State Police from Lee, Connecticut State Police, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the Southern Berkshire Volunteer Ambulance Squad, Inc.

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