WRENTHAM -- Over a dozen family members of 10-year-old Jaylen Bush-Victorian showed up in Wrentham District Court on Monday to see the boy’s alleged killer and drunken driver appear before a judge. “Murderer,” a woman shouted at 42-year-old Michael Escolas of Oxford after Judge Thomas Finigan set bail for him at $100,000 cash, the amount requested by prosecutors. “We want justice,” the boy’s paternal grandmother told reporters outside the courthouse as she held a photo of Jaylen and spoke alongside of his maternal grandmother.
They did not give their names and other family members said they were from Brockton and North Attleboro. “We want him held accountable for his actions and for the devastation he has caused our families,” the maternal grandmother said. “Our children are devastated that their child is no longer here to raise him, to raise him, to watch him to continue growing and just be the beautiful soul that he is.
” Jaylen was killed Saturday night in a crash in Plainville that also seriously injured his parents and three other children in their car. Prosecutors say the car was stopped at a traffic light on Route 1 South near Interstate 495 at about 8:30 when Escolas allegedly rear-ended the vehicle going 50 mph. He was driving a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee he allegedly stole from a parking lot during a Kenny Chesney concert at Gillette Stadium, authorities say.
Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally said Escolas was tailgating in a parking lot with his wife and some friends and started drinking whiskey about 1 p.m. Saturday.
He continued drinking throughout the evening and never joined his wife and friends after they went inside the stadium to their seats to watch the concert, Lally said. Instead, the prosecutor said, Escolas went to another parking lot and got into a Jeep owned by a Vermont man whose wife left her keyfob inside her purse which was inside the vehicle. Escolas then drove south on Route 1 and crashed into the car driven by Jaylen’s father.
Three other vehicles were damaged in the crash but their occupants were not injured. Jaylen’s parents were identified in court records as Andre Victorian and Jasmine Bush-Victorian. The other children in the vehicle were ages 4, 11, and 8.
Their names were redacted from court records. The grandmothers said all are still hospitalized at Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital, both in Providence. They described Jaylen as a loving son who had a heart of gold and was protective of his brothers and parents.
“If you encountered him you would have fallen in love with this child,” the maternal grandmother said. The paternal grandmother said she saw Jaylen last week and promised to have him over her house but then she received the call he died in the crash. “I’m so heartbroken,” she said.
When authorities arrived at the crash scene, Escolas smelled of alcohol, appeared intoxicated and thought he was on Route 146 in Milbury near a pizza shop about 40 minutes away from Gillette, Lally said. The suspect initially agreed to take a portable breath test but then could not provide a breath-alcohol sample, according to the prosecutor. Prosecutors can seek a court order for his medical records to obtain the result.
Escolas was later taken to Rhode Island Hospital where a blood sample was drawn when he was treated for injuries, according to a state police report. He declined to give police consent for the results of the sample, according to the report. During a recorded phone call to his wife at the state police barracks in Foxboro, Escolas told her “still one too many, one too many.
Messed up,” Lally said reading from the police report. His previous drunken driving arrest occurred 14 years ago and the case was continued without a finding in Worcester District Court, according to the police report. As a result of the fatal crash Saturday night, his license was suspended by the Registry of Motor Vehicles, according to police and his lawyer, Joseph Cataldo of Franklin.
“The situation is tragic and extremely sad, your honor,” Cataldo said, requesting bail be set at between $5,000 and $6,000. He said Escolas is a married father of three children who works as a manager in the automotive industry. His wife, father and brother were in court to support him but they declined comment.
Over the weekend outside the state police barracks in Foxboro, he told WCVB Channel 5 that he has a 10-year-old son and apologized. If he posts bail, Escolas was ordered to take a breath-alcohol test three times a day, stay away from the victims and witnesses and to not drive without a valid license. If he is convicted, the manslaughter charge he is facing carries a penalty of between five and 20 years.
His case was continued for a probable cause hearing Sept. 19..
