Methuen’s Owen Foote had his request to travel out of state denied by a Haverhill District Court judge last week, seven months after police say he drove 70 miles an hour on the city’s residential Crystal Street, killing 17-year-old Jordan Rankin.
Out on bail since his Oct. 31 arraignment on a motor vehicle homicide charge, Foote and his Boston-based attorney Benjamin P. Urbelis petitioned Judge Patricia Dowling to revise the conditions of his release so that he could travel to assist with his father’s Proscape landscaping business.
As WHAV previously reported, Foote—behind the wheel of a company car during the Sept. 24, 2018 crash—has been stripped of his license and placed on house arrest, only allowed to leave for work purposes.
(Courtesy photograph)
Foote was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, police said. A search of his vehicle found marijuana and related paraphernalia, but Foote “did not exhibit any indicators or symptoms that he was under the influence,” according to Haverhill Police Sgt. Kevin F. Lynch.
Rankin’s family and friends have made it a mission to keep the teen’s memory alive as Foote’s case continues this spring. WHAV was there during a separate hearing over April school vacation when Rankin family members and her lacrosse teammates packed a Haverhill District Court room to face the man police say caused Rankin’s death.
On April 24, the Haverhill High School lacrosse team marked seven months since Rankin’s death with “Spread a Smile for No. 6 Day,” encouraging those who knew and loved Rankin to carry out a random act of kindness in her memory.