Allston Man Charged in Crash That Killed Couple Walking in Back Bay

Mohamed Alfageeh pleaded not guilty to two counts of motor vehicle homicide in connection with the accident.

An Allston man was ordered held on $10,000 cash bail after being arraigned on charges that he was the operator of a sports utility vehicle that hit and killed a Brookline couple walking in the Back Bay neighborhood in June.

Mohamed Alfageeh, 30, pleaded not guilty in Suffolk Superior Court Monday morning following an indictment handed down by a Suffolk County Grand Jury late last week.  Alfageeh was charged with the deaths of Jessica Campbell and John Lanzillotti, and faces two counts of motor vehicle homicide, and one count of negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

On June 21, Lanzilotti and Campbell were killed when Alfageeh’s Ford Explorer skidded across the pavement and struck the couple, after Alfageeh allegedly ran a red light and hit another car near the corner of Beacon and Fairfield streets.

Lanzillotti, a Boston University graduate who worked for the Red Sox, was pronounced dead at the scene. Campbell, a Northeastern graduate who worked as a retail analyst in Boston, was rushed to Brigham and Women’s Hospital where she later died, officials said.

Alfageeh was in the vehicle with his wife, Ghuzlan Alghazali, 26, at the time of the fatal accident.

Police had at first arrested Alghazali just two days after the accident. She was scheduled for arraignment in Boston Municipal Court on two counts of motor vehicle homicide, one count of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and one count of unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. Based on initial information gathered by investigators, they believed Alghazali was operating the vehicle when the crash occurred.

Alghazali was later released, however, without charges or a complaint filed against her, because officials said they had to conduct additional “canvassing and evidentiary analysis” at the site of the crash and determine who was actually behind the wheel.

Questions surrounding the incident have lingered since Alghazali was released from police custody in June after conflicting witness statements.

Alfageeh was ordered to surrender his passport while the case is pending. He will return to court on September 22 for a pre-trial conference, according to a spokesperson from the Suffolk District Attorney’s office.

Family members of both Alghazali and Alfageeh, as well as the victims, were in court on Monday morning for the arraignment.