DRIVER HIT BEFORE CRASH HEAD PUNCHED, PASSENGER SAYS.(Local)

Byline: Carol DeMare Staff writer

A passenger in a van involved in a fatal Colonie crash told a jury Wednesday that the front seat passenger punched the driver in the head moments before the vehicle crossed into oncoming traffic.

Mary Breen of Watervliet said she and her boyfriend, Kevin Curran, were riding in the back seat of the van on Oct. 13, 1989 when the vehicle struck a passenger car head on, killing two children.

On trial before County Judge Thomas W. Keegan are Joseph G. Hope, 23, of 89 Third St., Troy, the driver, who is free on $30,000 bail, and Raymond Jewett, 22, of 1537 7th Ave., Watervliet, who is free on $25,000 bail. They face …