The legal system has dropped the heavy hammer of justice it once held over Sonny Khubchandani, the man whose car plunged through a concrete barrier, teetering on the brink of catastrophe at the Alewife station in February. The charges, which included operating to endanger and eight counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, were dismissed against Khubchandani on the condition that he receive mental health treatment, as obtained by CBS News Boston.
The crash, which occurred early this year, not only halted train service for an agonizing six days but also forced extensive repairs to the lobby and main entrance of Alewife Station until the closure of March. A 14-year-old girl, innocently caught in the cascade of events, found her hand wounded by a piece of concrete plummeting through the station's glass ceiling, according to the coverage by WCVB.
Khubchandani's vehicle forcefully breached the barriers of sense and safety, leaving a car hanging precipitously from the garage's peak. Alewife Station became a scene contorted by fear; glass shattered, concrete dislodged—the injuries could have been catastrophically worse.
On Monday, the prosecution confirmed that Khubchandani had met all of their conditions, prompting the judge to agree to dismiss the case. Details of the crash recall the truly harrowing scenario: a 10,000-pound slab of concrete falling from the garage's upper level, glass panels splintering above the heads of those in the atrium below. And though service on a portion of the MBTA's Red Line was significantly disrupted by the calamity, the path to restitution appears to have been unprecedently rerouted towards rehabilitation and recovery.
