Laconia driver indicted in connection with Motorcycle Week fatality

LACONIA — Paul Noyes, 28, of Endicott Street North, in Laconia, was indicted for negligent homicide in connection with a motorcycle crash on Weirs Boulevard during Motorcycle Week which left a Massachusetts man dead and his wife seriously injured. Noyes was also charged with aggravated DUI involving a collision which caused injury, and a felony-level charge of driving after his license was revoked or suspended.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt. Rather it is a finding by a grand jury that there is sufficient evidence of an alleged crime to warrant bringing a case to trial.

Noyes was driving a sport utility vehicle on Weirs Boulevard the afternoon of June 16 when the vehicle swerved into the oncoming lane and collided with a motorcycle carrying two riders. The force of the collision broke the motorcycle in two, according to police reports.

The operator of the motorcycle, Peter Reilly, 57, of East Sandwich, Massachusetts, died at the scene despite a Laconia police officer performing CPR in an effort to revive him. A female passenger, later identified as Reilly’s wife, Brenda, age 58, suffered serious head injuries.

According to an affidavit submitted by Laconia Police Det. Kendra Neri, Noyes appeared impaired at the crash scene. His speech was slurred and he repeatedly nodded off, the affidavit filed in Belknap Superior Court stated.

He was later brought to Concord Hospital — Laconia for evaluation. Search warrants were obtained to take samples of Noyes’ blood, and during his time in the emergency room there were four separate blood draws. The affidavit also says that a state trooper who is a certified drug recognition expert concluded Noyes was under the influence of “multiple drugs.” At the scene Noyes told Neri he was a heroin addict who was in recovery, but later told another Laconia police officer at the scene that he had used heroin the day before, the affidavit states.

Since the crash, Noyes has been held at the Belknap County Corrections facility in preventative detention.

His attorneys are fighting the prosecution’s efforts to have access to his medical files, arguing that the evidence they have obtained from the blood tests is sufficient.