A police officer and a utility worker are dead after being hit by a driver who went on to steal a police cruiser in Waltham, Massachusetts, authorities said Wednesday night.
Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said the incident began around 4 p.m. on Totten Pond Road. A driver, identified as 54-year-old Peter Simon of Woodsville, New Hampshire, allegedly hit a Jeep when he apparently tried to execute a U-turn.
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Ryan said Simon righted his vehicle and continued on, when about a quarter of a mile down the road, he hit 58-year-old Waltham police officer Paul Tracey and a 36-year-old National Grid worker from Cambridge, whose name was not immediately released. Both of those victims died from their injuries.
Tracey was working a police detail at the National Grid worksite, Ryan said. Two other workers were also injured. One, who was working in a hole at the time, was hospitalized.
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Afterward, Ryan said Simon continued on, hitting at least two other vehicles before abandoning his vehicle and fleeing on foot. He then allegedly ran into a responding Waltham police officer, stealing a cruiser at knifepoint.
Simon then crashed the cruiser on Winter Street and tried to flee on foot again before being arrested, Ryan said.
Two counts of manslaughter and an armed robbery charge were brought against Simon, but Ryan said additional charges may be forthcoming. He is expected to be arraigned Thursday morning in Waltham District Court. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
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"Clearly, what happened today is an unimaginable tragedy for the family of Officer Tracy and for the National Grid employee, for the entire Waltham Police Department, and for the community as a whole."
"At National Grid, safety is our first priority," the company said in a statement to NBC10 Boston earlier Wednesday. "Our thoughts are with the crew members, their families and loved ones."
A woman who lives on the street and called 911 after the crash told NBC10 Boston what she saw.
"All of a sudden, I hear someone, like, screams, and I came out and I saw people on the ground, and I called 911," said Johana Rodriguez. "I was traumatized just watching the scene. It was a horrifying scene."
Rodriguez says the street is busy and drivers are known to speed in the area.
"I've been telling … the city that they need to do something about that," she said. "Cars just go real, real fast."
