Boston mother Maureen Maloney was booed last week while testifying about the death of her son, Matthew Denice, who was killed by a drunk-driving illegal with a criminal history in 2011. Maloney was testifying at the State House in opposition to a bill seeking to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.
“At the start of her testimony, Maloney held up a photo of Matthew and recalled how he was killed by an illegal immigrant drunk behind the wheel. About halfway into her 3 minutes of testimony, a man behind Maloney booed the grieving mother,” the Boston Herald reported.
“It just made me more determined,” Maloney told the outlet. “I don’t want other people to lose their lives like Matthew did. I don’t want other families to go through the heartache that my family deals with. And that’s where I get the strength and the stamina to keep doing this.”
This wasn’t the first time the “Angel Mom” has been booed while discussing the death of her son. “A few years ago, Maloney spoke out against a similar proposal, and a senator had given her his additional three minutes to testify. When Maloney went over the three minutes, she said people in the audience began booing and hollering that her time was up,” the Herald reported.
“You get used to it over time,” the mother said.
In May 2017, Maloney spoke at a Bostonians Against Sanctuary Cities event, where she detailed the death of her son by illegal immigrant Nicolas Dutan Guaman.
“On August 20, 2011, my son Matthew Denice was tragically killed less than two miles form our home. Matthew was riding his motorcycle in a residential area with a 20 mile per hour speed limit. Nicolas Guaman, an illegal alien with a criminal record, ran a stop sign, colliding with Matthew’s motorcycle. Matthew landed on the hood and the windshield of Guaman’s truck and rolled off into the street. Witnesses saw Matthew getting up out of the road.”
“During the trial, the Boston medical examiner and the forensic experts testified that Matthew survived the initial collision with just scrapes and bruises. … By all accounts, he should have lived.”
“But Nicolas Guaman, who was an illegal alien did not have a diver’s license and had spent his day drinking beer made a fatal decision. He ran over Matthew, causing Matthew to be lodged in the front, right wheel well. He dragged Matthew a quarter mile to this death while horrified witnesses yelled for him to stop and banged on his truck. Witnesses heard Matthew’s bloodcurdling screams as his body was torn apart over the course of that quarter of a mile. Matthew’s body was impeding the forward motion of that front wheel of the truck. Nicolas Guaman knew he was dragging my son but he continued to flee the police. Eventually Guaman was run off the road and Matthew’s body became dislodged. Guaman then backed up over Matthew, and then continued to flee. And he had his six-year-old son in the truck during all this.”
Maloney stated that she prayed to her son for strength before giving her testimony last week. “I was just asking him to guide me with my testimony and help me to not have anger in my heart towards the other side,” she said. “Just do some work through me, use me to try to save other lives.”
“Going to hearings like this, talking about it, opens up the wounds and it’s painful,” Maloney added. “And hearing them talk about their fear of separation and I’m sitting there thinking, ‘I have been permanently separated. This is the ultimate permanent separation.’ They’re afraid they’ll be deported but they can take their kids with them or their kids can go visit them. I don’t have that option.”
Guaman is currently serving out a 12 to 14-year sentence for the murder of Denice.