NORTHAMPTON — The family of a father and daughter killed three years ago while on a motorcycle ride is suing the city of Holyoke and two of its police officers for more than $2 million.

The lawsuit, filed in Hampshire Superior Court in late August, alleges two Holyoke police officers acted negligently when they questioned but failed to protect the public from James Ainsworth during a traffic call hours before he struck and killed Edward Daniel McGrath, 62, and Brittany Danielle McGrath, 29, with a sport utility vehicle on Route 5 in Easthampton.

The estates of Edward and Brittany McGrath, represented by Chelsea McGrath, Edward’s daughter and Brittany’s sister, and Iris McGrath, Brittany’s mother and Edward’s ex-wife, are seeking $2.2 million in documented and future lost wages and compensation, claiming that negligence caused the wrongful deaths of Edward and Brittany and emotional distress for their survivors. The women are representing themselves in the lawsuit.

The father and daughter were on a motorcycle ride around 3:10 p.m. Aug. 28, 2014, when Ainsworth, who later admitted in court to being high on heroin at the time, nodded off while driving on Route 5 in Easthampton. His vehicle crossed the center line and crashed into the motorcycle carrying the McGraths.

Edward McGrath lived in Holyoke. Brittany McGrath, a graduate of the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School, was a lawyer who lived in New York City.

In the lawsuit, Chelsea and Iris McGrath allege that Holyoke Police Officers Roger Goudreau and Edward Moskal, who had stopped and talked to Ainsworth in the vehicle earlier that afternoon, failed to protect the roadways. The city of Holyoke is also named as a plaintiff and is alleged to have failed to properly supervise the police officers. The suit contends police conduct deprived Edward and Brittany McGrath of their civil rights and inflicted emotional injury upon Chelsea and Iris McGrath.

The Holyoke mayor’s office and the city solicitor’s office did not return phone calls seeking comment for this article. Holyoke Police Chief James Neiswanger and Police Lt. Jim Albert declined to comment on the ongoing litigation when reached during the past week.

“I wouldn’t want to comment without being very familiar with it,” Albert said of the court complaint. “It would be inappropriate.”

Goudreau was flagged down by a motorist at around 1:12 p.m. on Aug. 28, 2014, the lawsuit states, and was advised of a red Toyota 4 Runner truck stopped on the corner of Linden and Suffolk streets in Holyoke. Goudreau found the SUV with a rear tire up against the curb, partially blocking the roadway, with hazard lights on, and had to shake Ainsworth, who was seated in the passenger seat, to wake him up, according to the lawsuit and a police incident report reviewed by the Gazette.

(The Gazette requested the report from the Holyoke Police Department but as of press time, the department had not provided it. A copy of the police report was obtained by the Gazette.)

Ainsworth said he was waiting for his girlfriend, who had gone to get gas for the car, and had fallen asleep, according to the lawsuit. Officers on the scene saw that his license was revoked and instructed him not to drive, the suit asserts.

“Ainsworth, when told by Officer Goudreau that he couldn’t drive, retrieved the keys for the motor vehicle from the vehicle’s passenger side door,” the lawsuit states. “Goudreau failed to confiscate the keys from Ainsworth. Officer Moskal then cleared the scene.”

Officers on the scene did not realize that neither party owned the car, the lawsuit alleges, and that it was unregistered and should have been impounded — and did not wait for the return of Ainsworth’s girlfriend, Christina Dunlap, who had a warrant out for her arrest.

But police in Easthampton, the city in which the fatal crash occurred later in the day, said last week in an interview that their records show the vehicle Ainsworth was driving was registered.

When police spoke with Ainsworth, they had him step out of the vehicle and noted that he was steady on his feet, no odor of alcohol was present and his speech was clear, according to the police report.

Goudreau left the scene in Holyoke at 1:35 p.m. that day. Around 3:10 p.m., driving south on Route 5, Ainsworth veered into the northbound lane, the complaint states, and did not hit his brakes before striking the McGraths head-on. Edward McGrath hit the SUV’s windshield and was then run over by the vehicle, according to the lawsuit. Both he and his daughter died at the scene.

Ainsworth pleaded guilty in June 2015 to two counts of motor vehicle homicide and two counts of vehicular manslaughter, admitting that at the time of the August 2014 accident, he was so high on heroin that he nodded off while driving. He was sentenced in Hampshire Superior Court to 15 to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years probation.

“Christina Dunlap reported to the police that Ainsworth hid heroin in her purse along with a straw, and that both she and Ainsworth had begun ingesting drugs, including heroin and painkillers, from the time they woke up that day,” the McGraths’ lawsuit alleges. “Officers Goudreau and Moskal, once they stopped and intervened with James Ainsworth, assumed a duty of care to the general public … furthermore, these officers knew or should have known that Ainsworth was impaired at the time of this stop.”

Iris McGrath, of Holyoke, could not be reached for comment. Chelsea McGrath, of Northampton, declined to comment for this story.

Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.

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