crash_reports: 22000529

On 06/15/22 at 14:47 hours, I (Traffic Unit # 523) responded to Cragmore Road (public way) and Boylston Street for a hit & run motor vehicle crash involving a yellow school bus and a tree company truck. The weather at the time was cloudy and sunny and the road conditions were dry. It appears the crash occurred at approximately 14:30 hours on this date according to statements. On arrival, I spoke to an employee identified as Alan Hayden of the tree company. Mr. Hayden works for Tree Technology and Landscape Company Inc. and at the time of the crash he was up in the air inside the bucket of his truck conducting tree trimming work. No other workers were inside the truck at the time. The truck is a 2022 Freightliner M2 bearing MA commercial reg. # W23962. Hayden states the truck was parked at the end of Cragmore Road a bit out into the Boylston Street off ramp. While doing work, Hayden states a full size yellow school bus attempted to go around his truck while turning right on to the Boylston Street off ramp from Cragmore Road. The school bus did not make a wide enough right turn and struck the driver's side black metal cage which supports the bucket to the truck. The bucket then started shaking back and forth while Mr. Hayden was in it. The metal cage goes overhead in front of the truck and sticks out on both sides of it. He says that the school bus scraped along the side of the cage and there should be long sized scrape marks along the top right side of the bus. I observed the scrape marks to the cage and noticed that the cage was also bent outward slightly on the passenger side. No injuries were reported by Mr. Hayden. I took several photos of the Freightliner truck and cage area and submitted them to the I.T. Bureau. Two other employees for Tree Technology were outside of the truck observing the work being done at the time. They were identified as Edgar Ortiz and Kemwrick Thames. Both of them did not observe the collision but heard the school bus scrape along side their company's truck. They stated that they yelled out to the bus operator but the driver continued westbound on to Boylston Street without stopping. Neither of them saw any writing on the bus or a registration number for it. They did observe some type of paper sign attached to the side of it. They stated that numerous students were on the school bus at the time. They did not observe the sex of the bus operator. Dispatch attempted to contact the City of Newton Transportation Dept. with negative results. Sgt. Wade left a voicemail with the director Regina Moody to see if the bus involved was transporting students for the City of Newton/Public Schools. It is unknown at this time if this bus was contracted by the city. Traffic Bureau update (Officer Gaudet): On Thursday, June 16, 2022, I was asked to conduct a follow up investigation for this crash. I spoke with Ms. Regina Moody from the City of Newton Transportation Department. Ms. Moody identified the operator of the school bus as Mr. Urban Mills (S49560217) and stated he was operating bus #351, a 2019 Thomas School Bus (MA BUN: BU43104). Ms. Moody was able to provide me with a copy of the audio/video surveillance from the bus involved in the crash. I viewed this footage in Ms. Moody's office. The footage shows Mr. Mills operating the school bus on Cragmore Road (S) towards Boylston Street. As the bus approached Boylston Street, a tree trimming crew can be seen working ahead at the corner of Cragmore Road and Boylston Street. There is also a stop sign at this intersection that can be clearly viewed from the footage. As the school bus approaches the intersection it does not come to a stop at the stop sign posted on the right side of the roadway. This was confirmed by Ms. Moody using the GPS system that gives the speed of every bus traveling during it's route, including when it comes to a complete stop. The school bus takes a right turn and a loud "crunching/scraping" sound can be heard. The attention of the children on the bus is turned to the passenger side of the bus. Through my training and experience, the sound heard on the footage is consistent with a vehicle hitting a large object. Children on the bus can be heard yelling, "What the fuck!" and discussing what has just happened with one another. The bus completes it's turn and travels on it's way with out stopping. All of the students on the bus were dropped off at their usual destination. There have been no injuries reported by any of the parties on the bus at the time of the crash. All of the students on the bus at the time of the crash were from Brown Middle School. Ms. Moody stated she would contact the Brown Middle School to try and get a list of the students that were on the bus at the time of the crash. A copy of the footage from the school bus and pictures of the damage to bus #351 was submitted to the IT Bureau. Mr. Mills provided a statement to Ms. Moody sometime after the crash occurred. From Mr. Mills's written statement, he states, "On approaching the intersection, I noticed a couple of tree cutting vehicles parked on the right side of the roadway (Cragmore Road) at the very corner. Nevertheless, I negotiated the turn and proceeded. This will require me to maneuver my bus onto the sidewalk. While executing this maneuver, I heard some noises which at the time I thought it was as a result of the bus getting onto the sidewalk because while executing the maneuver my eyes were fixed on the right side mirrors and was a great distance away from the vehicles to my right." After viewing the footage from the crash, Mr. Mills will be mailed Massachusetts Uniform Citation 477181AB for Chapter 90, Section 24 (Leaving the Scene of Property Damage), Chapter 89, Section 9, (Fail To Yield, Stop Sign), and Newton City Ordinance Chapter 19, Section 75 (Failure to Use Care). A copy of the criminal application and associated paperwork was submitted to the Police Prosecutor. Ms. Moody was apprised of the findings of my investigation. Cragmore Road and Boylston Street are both public ways in the City of Newton.