crash_reports

On Tuesday, June 14, 2022, while assigned to West Newton Square, I met a party in the lobby of Newton PD HQ reporting a past mva/pedestrian crash. Ms. Teresa Brown stated approximately an hour before speaking with me (12:30 p.m.), she was running on Webster Street (E) when she approached the Elm Street intersection. Ms. Brown stated she observed a black pick up truck to her right across the street and made a motion to him as she approached the intersection that she was going to continue running straight across Webster Street. Ms. Brown stated as she entered the marked crosswalk while running across the intersection, the pick up truck continued through the intersection and struck her. Ms. Brown stated she fell to the roadway and suffered a minor injury to her right arm. Ms. Brown stated the operator stopped to check on her, and she took a picture of his license. Ms. Brown stated she then continued running from the crash scene and ran to her daughter's house in Waltham. Ms. Brown stated the reason she did not contact the Newton Polcie Department when the crash occured was because she was in shock. Ms. Brown stated she was told after she got to her daughter's house it would be a good idea to report it now. Ms. Brown provided me with license information for the driver. Ms. Brown stated the only real injury she suffered was a cut on her right elbow. Ms. Brown was advised if she is involved in a future crash with injury to contact the police department of the town the crash occurs in so we can assist in rendering aide, and investigate the crash on scene. I contacted the operator of the vehicle involved, Mr. Mingzong Zou. Mr. Zou stated he was operating his 2015 Ford F-150 (MA CON: S24067) on Elm Street (N). Mr. Zou stated he came to a stop at the Webster Street stop sign. Mr. Zou stated he proceeded through the intersection after he stopped and saw Ms. Brown in the roadway in front of him. Mr. Zou stated the front of his vehicle crashed into Ms. Brown. Mr. Zou stated Ms. Brown told him she was "ok" after the crash and he offered her his information. Mr. Zou stated Ms. Brown took a picture of his license and ran away from the area. Due to the crash being reported some time after it occurred and not being present on scene to witness the scene, I am unable to cite the operator of MV1. Elm Street and Webster Street are both public ways maintained by the City of Newton.

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.

Operator of vehicle one stated that while stopped at a red light in the north bound lane of Church St at Washington St his vehicle was rear ended by vehicle two. Operator of vehicle two stated that while stopped behind vehicle one his foot slipped off the break and caused his vehicle to rear end vehicle one. A passenger in vehicle one was transported to NWH for neck pain. Neither vehicle had visible damage and did not require a tow. Operator of vehicle two was issued a citation for a violation of City of Newton Ordnance 19/75 , failure to use care while stopped. Church St is a public way in the City of Newton.

On 06/18/2022, while assigned to N494, I, Officer Conary, and Officer Sohn (N492), responded to an MVA at Centre Street at Garden Street. Upon arrival, I met with Operator of MV1 who explained to me that they were traveling Northbound on Centre Street, when a truck in front of them began to slow down in traffic. Operator of MV1 said that they began to slow down too and then was struck in the rear by MV2. Operator of MV1's dog, that was in the back seat, jumped out of the car and ran down the street. Operator of MV1 was able to get the dog and claimed that it was hit by the car. I observed the dog and it was energetic and was moving around without visible issues. I spoke to Operator of MV2 who explained to me that they were traveling Northbound on Centre Street when MV1 stopped in front of them. Operator of MV2 was unable to stop in time. They did not know whether or not they hit a dog during the accident. MV1 was unregistered and non renewable. Operator of MV1 was handed MA Citation T2014292. Both vehicles were towed from scene. There is damage to MV1 rear, and MV2 front end. A MV inventory form was completed for MV1. Both operators signed patient refusals. I advised Operator of MV1 to bring their dog to the vet.