Police locate tractor-trailer truck that hit, killed bicyclist in the Back Bay, Massachusetts
By Steve Annear and Brian MacQuarrie Globe Staff
August 07, 2015
The tractor-trailer that struck and killed a cyclist in the Back Bay during the morning rush on Friday has been located out of state, and its driver is being questioned, Boston police said.
Authorities said Friday evening that no charges had been filed, but that the investigation was continuing into a collision that left a woman cyclist fatally injured about 7 a.m. at the busy intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Beacon Street.
The truck, carrying a long flatbed loaded with steel, had been making a right turn onto Beacon Street and did not stop after the collision. The woman, in her 30s, was not identified pending notification of family.
“It’s a very, very tragic situation,’’ said Boston police Superintendent Bernard O’Rourke.
He described the tractor-trailer as having a red sleeper cab with chrome air horns on top of it, white letter on the cab, and with some damage to the grill.
He said the truck driver may not have seen the bicyclist as the driver made the turn. Police have not formally classified the incident as a hit-and-run, but O’Rourke stressed the investigation is just starting. He said surveillance cameras in the neighborhood captured the incident.
Police later posted an image of the vehicle on the department’s official Twitter account.
Aymen Rajeh, owner of Quality Mart, which sits on the opposite corner of where the fatal crash occurred, said he has seen “way too many’’ crashes at this location over the years.
“Way, way too many,” he said. “I don’t know what it is about this intersection, but people are constantly getting hit — pedestrians, bikers — some type of accident.”
Rajeh, who has owned Quality Mart since 1992, didn’t see the crash, but his cousin, Chafik Hamadeh, a clerk at the store, was one of the first to walk up to the victim before police arrived.
Hamadeh described a grisly scene, and said the female victim was unresponsive.
“Her eyes were wide open...She was a young girl,’’ he said. “Maybe younger than me. You never know when your day comes.”
Zach Cloyd, who lives next door to the scene, said he stopped biking home from work because this particular intersection is dangerous.
“That exact corner, waiting at that corner, I’ve had someone almost hit me as they were turning right,” he said.
In the aftermath of the crash, there was a bicycle with a crushed handlebar lying at the intersection and a helmet lying next to the bike.
Police put up crime scene tape across the intersection on Beacon Street heading to Kenmore Square, and traffic began backing up over the Massachusetts Avenue bridge into Cambridge.
While police were investigating at the scene, two vehicles collided with each other, but no injuries were reported.
See more photos of the truck:
Boston Police
Boston Police
Steve Annear can be reached at steve.annear@glo