Fatal accident: Police release report on Mashpee crash
Speed and not using a seat belt are among the fatal factors in the February crash that killed Cristina Moretti, 47, of Mashpee, MA.
ZoomPhoto courtesy of Cristina Moretti's family
Cristina Moretti of Mashpee died in an automobile accident on Feb. 15, 2016.
By Mary Ann Bragg
Posted Jun. 15, 2016 at 8:54 AM
Updated at 9:28 AM
MASHPEE — A Mashpee police report on a one-car crash in February that killed driver Cristina Moretti of Mashpee indicates excessive speed, the reported “jerking” of the steering wheel and the lack of use of seat belts contributed to her death.
Moretti, 47, had been driving her black Saturn Ion 3 north at 12:07 a.m. Feb. 15 on Great Neck Road North when the car ran off the road to the right just past the intersection of Lowell Road, hitting a guardrail, a telephone pole and then a tree, police said. Moretti was taken to Falmouth Hospital where she was pronounced dead. The one passenger in the car, Jaime Childs, 39, of Mashpee, was flown by a medical helicopter to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence with what were considered life-threatening injuries, but survived.
Because of Moretti’s speed of about 58 miles per hour in a posted 45 miles per hour residential zone and her “jerking” of the steering wheel prior to the crash, she was unable to maintain stability of the vehicle while attempting to avoid something that had “darted out” in front of the car, according to the crash reconstruction report of Mashpee police Detective David Mackiewicz.
Mashpee Police Chief Scott Carline released the crash reconstruction report and interview records last week at the request of the Times.
The state medical examiner’s office ruled the cause of Moretti's death as blunt head trauma from a motor vehicle crash, Mackiewicz wrote in the report. Her death was in part attributed to her not wearing a seatbelt, Mackiewicz wrote.
“Had Moretti worn her seatbelt, her fatal injuries could have been significantly reduced, if not completely eliminated,” he wrote.
Childs, a sergeant in the county sheriff's office, had met Moretti that evening at 10 p.m. at Bobby Byrne’s restaurant in Mashpee, after Moretti had gotten off work there, according to the recollections of Childs as of Feb. 17. Moretti had worked at the restaurant for about two years, restaurant general manager Patricia Peters told the Times in February.
Childs and Moretti spent some time at the restaurant and then went to The Lanes Bowl & Bistro in Mashpee for dinner. At The Lanes a buffalo chicken pizza they ordered was delivered with blue cheese on it, and the two women left the restaurant because Childs is allergic to blue cheese, Childs told the police. They were headed toward Childs’ house to get medicine to help with an allergic reaction when the car crashed, Childs told the police. Just before the crash, “something dark darted out” in front of Moretti’s vehicle, causing Moretti to jerk the wheel in an attempt to avoid the object, Childs told police.
Although Childs and Moretti had a “couple of drinks” at Bobby Byrne’s, according to information provided to police by Jeffrey Moore, president and owner of Bobby Byrne’s Management Corp., the conclusion of the police report does not reference alcohol as a factor in the crash.
Great Neck Road North was shut down for several hours after the crash. The crash damaged Eversource electric company equipment and caused a 90-minute power outage for about 200 customers, a company spokeswoman said.
Moretti had three adult sons, and was recalled after her death as a cherished confidante to many of her co-workers and as having a knack for making customers feel comfortable. Moretti’s sons raised $30,825 to pay for a wake and burial expenses, according to a GoFundMe page they created after her death.