Dorchester man arraigned on car theft, OUI and bribery charges

BOSTON, November 7, 2022 — A Dorchester man faces drunk driving, motor vehicle theft and other charges after being arrested in a stolen vehicle Saturday morning and attempting to bribe police officers, District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.

DEREK FROIO, 29, was charged in South Boston BMC today with operating under the influence, receiving a stolen motor vehicle, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and bribing a public employee.  Judge Pamela Dashiell released Froio on personal recognizance and ordered him to remain alcohol free, attend Alcoholic Anonymous meetings and submit to random screening.  Froio will return to court December 16 for a pre-trial conference.

Assistant District Attorney Jim Duffy said that on Saturday at about 1:57 a.m. Boston police responded to West Broadway in South Boston and were flagged down by an individual who said his vehicle had been stolen.  The individual pointed to the vehicle, which was stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of East Broadway and West Broadway.  Officers approached the vehicle and knocked on the window to alert the driver, Froio, who appeared non-responsive.  Officers opened the door and instructed Froio to put the vehicle in park. Instead, Froio stepped on the gas, nearly striking the officers.

The vehicle travelled several feet before coming to a stop, at which time officers removed Froio from the vehicle and handcuffed him. Officers observed Froio to be unsteady on his feet, slurring his speech, smelling of alcohol, and having red and glossy eyes. After being placed under arrest, Froio became extremely agitated and said “[My] dad is going to kill [me]… how much is this going [to] cost, 10 Gs?”

Froio refused to take a breath analyzer test and resisted being fingerprinted.  While being booked, Froio told officers that “I’ll send you both $5,000 each to make this go away… I get there is a moral compass, but we all need money. That’s a vacation.”

“As if this individual didn’t make enough trouble for himself by stealing a car and driving while intoxicated, he added to his problems by attempting to bribe his way out of the situation.  He’s fortunate that his bad decisions didn’t lead to him or anyone else getting hurt,” Hayden said.

James Borghesani, Chief of Communications