The Roslindale man charged with running down 23-year-old Andrew Prior was so drunk after attending a rock concert that he later said he couldn’t believe a valet gave him back his keys, a Suffolk County prosecutor said today at his arraignment on motor vehicle homicide charges.

COLIN RATIU (D.O.B. 11/27/87) was formally charged in Suffolk Superior Court this afternoon with motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident causing death. The lead charge supersedes an earlier district court complaint charging him with motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation.

Assistant District Attorney David Bradley of District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s Major Felony Bureau recommended that Ratiu’s bail be increased from $7,500 to $35,000 based on the seriousness of the new charges and the possibility that he might flee them. Though he surrendered his passport after his district court arraignment, Bradley said, Ratiu had obtained a copy of the passport and maintains citizenship in Romania.

Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Gary Wilson declined to set additional bail, but ordered Ratiu to wear a GPS monitoring device while his case is pending. Ratiu must not leave the state, must not drive, must not apply for a passport or driver’s license, must remain drug- and alcohol-free and undergo random testing, and must check in with the Department of Probation every two weeks.

Bradley told the court that an extensive grand jury investigation had revealed Ratiu “consumed alcohol and smoked marijuana at home before a Kings of Leon concert at the TD Garden” on Nov. 14, 2010.

Additionally, Bradley said, Ratiu continued to drink at the concert, downing two “nip” bottles of bourbon that he had snuck into the Garden before driving home in his mother’s Hyundai Santa Fe sport-utility vehicle and allegedly striking Prior as the Syracuse man operated his Genuine Buddy scooter on Tremont Street near Roxbury Crossing.

One witness told investigators that he spoke with Ratiu shortly before the 11:30 p.m. collision and “could tell by the sound of his voice that he was intoxicated,” Bradley said.

Ratiu also made statements that he “remembered driving a car and being in an accident but was blackout drunk” and couldn’t believe that a valet gave him back his keys, Bradley told the court.

A search warrant on Ratiu’s phone led to the recovery of a text message to his mother in which he acknowledged crashing his mother’s SUV, Bradley said. That SUV was found parked at his mother’s house with major damage to the body and windshield, both airbags deployed, and pieces of Prior’s scooter wedged into its front end.

Boston Police responding to the area of the collision found Prior mortally wounded and his scooter “crumpled” on the street. Prior later died of his injuries at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
After obtaining video surveillance images from the area, Boston Police publicized the make and model of the suspect vehicle and asked area auto body shops to be on the lookout for one with collision damage. They also reviewed the registration information for “several hundred” Santa Fes registered in the Boston area before receiving a tip in February.

Michael Schultz is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Ratiu is represented by attorney Neni Odiaga. He will return to court on Aug. 4 and his trial was tentatively scheduled for March 28, 2012.