Baseball argument got man killed by car, witnesses say

NASHUA, N.H. – A Yankees fan who got into a Red Sox-Yankees argument outside a bar aimed her car at a group of people to scare them and didn’t brake, hitting and killing a man, authorities and witnesses said.

Ivonne Hernandez was arraigned Monday on reckless second-degree murder and drunken driving charges and was held without bail. She did not enter a plea.

Hernandez, 43, was speeding early Friday toward a small group that included the man, Matthew Beaudoin, 29, and never hit her brakes, a prosecutor said Monday.

“She accelerated at a high speed for about 200 feet. She went directly at this group of people,” prosecutor Susan Morrell said. “She indicated to police that she wanted to scare this group of people. She thought they would get out of the way.”

Beaudoin died of massive head trauma at a hospital, Morrell said.

Hernandez, of Nashua, was arrested at the scene. She said she had been in an argument with the group.

Authorities won’t describe the argument, but witnesses said it occurred after Beaudoin left a bar.

Owner Lisa Slade said one of her bartenders, who was with Beaudoin after the bar closed, stopped at a bush to relieve herself.

Beaudoin and another girl, Maria Hughes, laughed at her. Slade said the bartender told her that a woman getting into her car thought Beaudoin and Hughes were laughing at her.

She said the woman punched the bartender. “My bartender got slapped in the face,” Slade said.

At that point, the group saw a Yankees bumper sticker on Hernandez’s car and “said something to her about being a Yankees fan,” and the conflict escalated, Slade said. Like the rest of New Hampshire, Nashua, 45 miles northwest of Boston, is Red Sox country.

Hernandez allegedly gunned her car and struck Beaudoin and Maria Hughes, 21. Hughes had only minor injuries, which Beaudoin’s sister Faith said was because her brother shielded Hughes, a friend.