LAWRENCE — Lay Bou thought he was getting too heavy, so he started jogging and eating properly to stay healthy as his children grew older.
Sokha Khieu, 20, said her stepfather was so dedicated that he would get up around 4 a.m. to start exercising. He often ran from their home in Lawrence near the Methuen line to Lowell via Route 110. It was during his run last Friday that Bou, 56, was struck and killed by a suspected drunken driver.
In Lawrence District Court yesterday, prosecutors said David Diaz, 23, of 23 Cornish St., Lawrence, had a blood-alcohol level of .16 to .17 — about twice the legal limit — when the car he was driving struck Bou about 8 a.m.
He was arraigned before Judge Barbara Pearson on charges of motor vehicle homicide while driving under the influence of alcohol, and a marked lanes violation.
According to police reports, officers detected an odor of alcohol on Diaz's breath, and said he had glassy, bloodshot eyes and was unsteady on his feet. He was taken to Holy Family Hospital for treatment of minor injuries and agreed to provide blood and urine samples.
At the hospital, Diaz told police he "drove down 110 toward Lawrence, fell asleep, woke up with a broken windshield and pulled over and saw a guy on the side bleeding."
According to a police report, Diaz said he left work about 3 a.m. and went to a friend's house, where he said he had two beers, and then told police he had four beers. He told police he did not remember driving down Route 110 and when he came to, he saw that his windshield was smashed.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Kunsch told the court that Diaz was arrested at the hospital and taken to the police station, where he agreed to take a breath test.
According to police reports, the breath test at the police station had a reading of .13.
A native of Cambodia, Bou immigrated to the United States shortly after that country's civil war in 1975.
"He never complained about anything. All he did was work and provide for his family. He was a very good man," his stepdaughter said.
Bou had worked as a machinist at Colombo Yogurt in Methuen for more than 20 years. In addition, he enjoyed working around the house and Khieu said he had made several improvements to their Tower Hill home, including re-tiling the dining room floor and painting. His next project was to put new cabinets in the kitchen.
"Whenever one of his friends needed help around the house, he would go and help them and never took any money," Khieu said.
Bou and Khieu's mother, Pipoup Bou had been married for 10 years. They have three children, Alicia, 5, Alex, 6, and Ali, 7. Bou has three other children from a previous marriage.
"He wasn't educated, but he wanted his children to have the best," said Khieu, a freshman at Merrimack College.
Family unaware of accident
Khieu and her mother were waiting for Bou to return from his run to go to a dental appointment. When he did not arrive on time, the two women left.
Bou also picked up his children from school every day and Khieu went to get her siblings when her stepfather did not show up.
"It was so unlike him," she said.
It wasn't until 4 p.m. Friday that the family found out about his death.
Khieu said police officers came to the house and showed her pictures of several tattoos her stepfather sported over his body, then showed her an identification card with his picture to see if it was the same person.
"I told them, 'Yes, that's my father.' I was confused because I saw a lot of police cars. They told me he was in an accident. I thought his arms and legs were broken, I didn't think he had died," she said crying.
"When they told me he had died, I couldn't take it, I fell to the floor," Khieu said.
Khieu said her mother is taking her husband's death extremely hard.
"In our culture, we have to have a body at home for a ceremony," she said.
Witnesses questioned
According to police reports, police also spoke to two witnesses who stopped to help Bou after the accident and to a third witness who said she saw the accident happen.
That witness told police she was driving behind Diaz's red Acura, but became frightened because the car was being driven in a dangerous manner so she distanced herself.
She told police she watched as the driver came up on the traffic lights at Griffin Brooke Drive, attempted to pass several cars on the right, then struck the victim who was running.
She told police the car veered off the road and turned around and drove east again on Route 110 before stopping a short distance away.
Diaz had been held on $25,000 cash bail over the weekend and prosecutors asked for the same bail to be continued at yesterday's arraignment.
But John Valerio, the lawyer for Diaz who was privately retained by his family, told the court that Diaz had very strong ties to the community and pointed to family members sitting in the courtroom.
Valerio asked that Diaz be freed without bail on his own recognizance.
He told the court that Diaz could not possibly post $25,000 cash bail.
Diaz had been working overtime to save money to get married, and he lives with his fiancee, 2-year-old son and mother.
He acknowledged the "terribly tragic circumstances" and told the court two families had been affected.
Diaz works the late-night shift for 3M and also has worked as a painter and for a temp agency.
"He shows a level of commitment to providing for his family," Valerio said. "This has had a deep and lasting impact on him. This is not a callous young man."
Pearson set $10,000 cash bail, ordered Diaz to refrain from driving, to submit to random Breathalyzer tests, and to surrender his passport to the probation department.
Speaking for Diaz's extended family outside the courtroom, Valerio said, "The family of my client wishes to express their deepest sympathies to the family of the victim."
Diaz was ordered to return to court March 4.
