Driver facing criminal charges for high-speed Mustang crash at Lowell-Dracut line

DRACUT — The driver sent to a trauma center last month after crashing a neon-green Ford Mustang near the Lowell-Dracut line is facing a pile of criminal charges due to the violent single-vehicle wreck that left behind a trail of destruction on Hildreth Street.

Christopher Jopson, 30, of Dracut, is facing a total of 10 charges due to the crash, including five counts of vandalizing property (a felony), and one count each of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, unregistered motor vehicle, uninsured motor vehicle, speeding, and marked lanes violation.

This isn’t the first time Jopson has been in this situation, according to Lowell District Court documents.

Jopson was arrested for another alleged reckless single-vehicle crash that occurred with him behind the wheel on Old Road in Dracut nearly two years ago. During that wreck, a Dracut Police report states Jopson totaled another Ford Mustang, this one black.

Court documents additionally show Jopson was arrested in March 2023 for an incident in Dracut that included a response from the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council SWAT Team, and again in June 2023 following a violent episode at the Cornelius F. Kiernan Judicial Center in Lowell.

Each of those cases are pending in court.

The crash on Hildreth Street took place at approximately 12:20 p.m. March 8. First responders arrived to find the brightly-colored and mangled 2013 Ford Mustang Boss 302 came to a rest in a yard after smashing through a fence in front of 430 Hildreth St. in Lowell.

A Dracut Police incident report states Jopson was entrapped in the vehicle, “unsecured between the driver and passenger seat, with his head at the dashboard and his legs facing the rear of the vehicle.”

Lowell and Dracut firefighters were able to extricate Jopson using hydraulic rescue tools. He was transported to Lowell General Hospital and then flown by medical helicopter to Lahey Hospital in Burlington. Medical records available in court documents state he suffered an elbow fracture, and a facial laceration. Records also state Jopson experienced a seizure, which Jopson’s attorney, Ernest Stone, has said caused the crash.

As for the crash scene, police said debris and car parts from the vehicle spanned approximately 200 feet from the intersection of Hildreth and Hovey streets, to where the vehicle came to a rest. Several bystanders and drivers reported witnessing the vehicle being operated erratically, speeding, traveling on the wrong side of the road, and going through a red light on Hildreth Street just prior to the crash.

“He went around two cars, and he was coming directly at me,” driver Tracey Walton, of Dracut, told The Sun at the scene that day. “Then he switched back into the lane he was supposed to be in. I thought he was going to hit me.”

The laundry list of damaged property from the chaotic crash — which led to the vandalism charges — included a mailbox unit for an apartment complex, a picket fence lining a parking lot by Henry Avenue, a street sign, a cement wall, and a telephone pole that was snapped in half.

Surveillance footage of the vehicle’s treacherous route, captured by cameras at the nearby Hannaford, showed the Mustang went airborne at one point. Police said the Mustang’s estimated speed was 80 to 100 mph. The speed limit in that section of roadway is 30 mph.

The Registry of Motor Vehicles sent a correspondence to Jopson, dated March 11, stating his driver’s license was “suspended indefinitely because of an immediate threat” to public safety, according to the RMV paperwork available in court documents.

Court documents state Jopson was arraigned by Lowell District Court Judge William Travaun Bailey on April 3. Due to this latest arrest, Jopson’s release from custody due to the aforementioned previous charges was revoked, and he was ordered held without bail.

In an affidavit filed in support of a motion to reconsider the revocation of release, Stone stated Jopson suffers from epilepsy, and that he endures seizures multiple times a week. Stone said in the affidavit that Jopson “suffered a seizure without warning while driving causing the crash.”

According to the defense attorney, Jopson is in the process of having a surgery within the coming months to address the seizure disorder, and needs to attend preoperative meetings.

Stone also stated in the affidavit that the Mustang, which had been purchased recently from a dealership in Henderson, Nevada, was both registered and insured at the time of the wreck.

The motion to allow Jopson’s release from custody was ultimately denied by Judge Michael Fabbri following a hearing on April 11.

A Dracut Police incident report states the other motor vehicle crash involving Jopson occurred in the 40 block of Old Road on May 14, 2022. In that crash, Jopson was uninjured. When police arrived on scene, they found him standing outside the totaled 2010 Ford Mustang that had come to a rest in the eastbound lane, facing west.

Jopson claimed, according to police, that he had turned onto Old Road from Sicard Avenue when a car entered his lane, forcing him to swerve. The Mustang spun out, eventually exiting the road and striking a tree stump.

The skid marks in the roadway did not match Jopson’s story, police wrote in the report, adding that a driver who was behind the Mustang at the time of the crash also refuted Jopson’s claims of another car causing the wreck.

The witness told police he observed the Mustang speeding and being operated recklessly, before it crossed the yellow lines and crashed.

The witness said he stopped at the crash scene, where he claimed to hear Jopson tell another bystander “that he was going to tell police that a car pulled out of a side street in front of him and caused the crash so he wouldn’t get in trouble.”

Jopson was subsequently charged with operating to endanger and marked lanes violation.

“The vehicle had the potential to be a danger for any vehicle traveling on Old Road as the vehicle entered both lanes of travel during the incident,” police said in the report. “The vehicle left the roadway on both sides of the road causing potential danger to any possible pedestrians in the area.”

Less than a year later, on March 19, 2023, a Dracut Police incident report states officers were dispatched to a residence on Sicard Avenue for a disturbance involving Jopson and one of his family members. Jopson is alleged to have pulled a 3-inch folding knife on the family member. After the police were called, Jopson retreated into his residence.

Police said they made contact with Jopson, who refused to leave the home “stating he did nothing wrong” and what he did was self-defense. Due to the presence of a weapon, NEMLEC SWAT was summoned. Jopson was ultimately charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.

On June 26, 2023, Jopson was charged with vandalism, disruption of court proceedings, and disorderly conduct after he allegedly became irate during a clerk’s hearing in Lowell District Court. An arrest report from a court officer states Jopson punched a table and threw a chair while “yelling and screaming obscenities” until he was taken into custody by officers.

Jopson is slated to return to court for a pretrial hearing on May 14.

Stone declined to comment.

Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis