By adamg on Wed., 9/19/2018 - 2:20 pm
NBC Boston reports on the incident at Galen and Watertown streets.
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Work Near There
By citygirl
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 2:39pm
The man who stabbed the driver was her son. Very sad situation
100% support the woman’s son
By Bill
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 2:49pm
100% support the deceased woman’s son. This is what needs to happen and the only way to stop reckless endangerment by thoughtless drivers. Our cities can calm traffic and enforce rules but they’ve left it to people. I sincerely hope everyone that gets behind the wheel drives with these consequences in mind. When they do we’ll be safe.
So if you get murdered
By anon
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 4:19pm
So if you get murdered because you didn't see a jaywalker, or couldn't stop in time, we should just say "eyy, he had it coming to him?"
What happened to this woman is tragic, and I'm not trying to downplay that. But put yourself in the shoes of the driver - you're minding your own business, following the rules of the road and all of a sudden a person darts out in front of you, and the next thing you know, you're on the sidewalk bleeding to death. Sound fair to you?
How fast can a 60 yr old
By anon
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 7:02pm
How fast can a 60 yr old "dart"
I'm 63. And I can dart
By Beanzzz
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 7:27pm
I'm 63. And I can dart pretty fucking fast.
How long have you been an ageist?
The report says that the
By thea olmstead
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 9:36pm
The report says that the woman killed was in her"late 60s."
A bit of an update:
By dmcboston
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 12:04pm
Woman was 68.
Driver was 60. Stabbed approximately five times in the torso.
Son was 38. No teenager.
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2018/09/20/...
If you didn't see a pedestrian
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 7:15pm
In an area with numerous crosswalks, then you were not driving safely.
What should happen to you?
Numerous crosswalks and yet she didn't use one
By anon
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 10:49pm
If jaywalking citations were issued in Massachusetts, maybe pedestrians would be more careful.
Then the pedestrian was
By Aaronag
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 11:21pm
Then the pedestrian was crossing on a green light and you already looked in that direction and saw no cars coming, hypothetically.
But seriously, people claiming the stabber was justified seem absurd to me.If my daughter (god forbid) drowns at her swim lesson tomorrow, should I be able to stab the lifeguard? I grew up in a place where this logic was accepted, its not pretty. If you want to live like that, I'm sure the bloods and crips are accepting new members. Of course, if the driver did this maliciously, that's a entirely different story.
Please demonstrate for the class
By anon
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 11:21am
Where did she say that stabbing is okay?
The point is clearly that excuses for running over old ladies in congested places with lots of crosswalks is not okay and there needs to be some penalty for doing so.
Who claimed the stabber is justified?
By anon
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 12:13pm
The question was "what should happen" to people who run down pedestrians with trucks.
So are you saying stabbing a driver is ok if he hits someone?
By whyaduck
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 7:57am
Good. God.
Alternatively, if you are driving safely and do hit someone in an area with numerous crosswalks, it may be because:
1. If the person walks right in front of your vehicle, in a crosswalk, and you do not have time to stop (i.e. person on phone, not paying attention, et. al) and thus hit that person.
2. If the person is in your vehicle's blind spot and you hit that person.
3. If a person is in a crosswalk, you stop your vehicle, and then someone else rear ends you and pushes you into the said person.
So, in these instances, nothing should happen to you. In fact, even if you do hit and/or kill someone as a driver and even if you were not driving safely, no one should stab you and/or assault you. The legal system will handle the situation.
The legal system will handle the situation
By Michael
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 8:33am
How is there still room under that rug?
No
By anon
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 11:46am
No. You said that.
Shouldn't you be running interference for a certain judge right now?
So if someone
By anon
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 4:36pm
Decided to run over the moron cycling through the tunnel the other night, that’s cool? Or do you just hate drivers.
Oh yeah.
By Wiffleball
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 7:10pm
That will really ensure that drivers stop to help when there's an accident.
I always hated crossing there
By chaosjake
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 3:07pm
I always hated crossing there when I lived in Watertown. People drive very fast, nobody stops before taking the right on red, and the walk light lasts approximately four milliseconds.
Do you realize that
By rb
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 3:08pm
you're describing every crosswalk in Massachusetts?
Agreed
By anon
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 5:20pm
100% agreed - I used to work 5 minutes from there and crossed at least twice a day going to and from the bus for years. I was almost hit several times, as it was nearly impossible to avoid cars making right turns on red as a pedestrian. The crosswalk light is nowhere near long enough, and (at least in 2013) would take so long to change during the morning commute, pedestrians would be forced to cross against the light.
Ethics case study
By Sock_Puppet
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 3:35pm
The man who only tried to kill someone will receive a heavier punishment than the man who succeeded in killing someone.
The man who intentionally tried to kill somebody
By roadman
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 3:53pm
will likely end up getting a tougher sentence than the man who unintentionally killed somebody.
The actions of thebtiq truck driver may have been avoidable. But the actions of the knife wielding man were clearly avoidable. Sorry, but I don't see an ethics problem here.
Not so fast
By BostonDog
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 5:12pm
First, I'm not going to assume the driver made a completely innocent mistake. Perhaps he did and perhaps he wanted to spook the family and went too far. It's not uncommon for someone to buzz a pedestrian around here instead of slowing down.
Second, if I watched someone kill my mother, I'd probably loose sanity and temporarily be unable to control my actions.
Innocent mistake?
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 6:30pm
Or reckless act?
Driving too fast for the conditions is a reckless act.
It's not uncommon for someone to buzz a pedestrian around here i
By Miaow
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 11:41am
Cite your sources so we know why you are saying "buzzing a pedestrian" is not "uncommon" around here. How many incidents of this can you document?
You think it's bad here? Try crossing a road in a busy city in India.
So clear?
By Sock_Puppet
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 12:01pm
One is avoidable and the other unavoidable, 100%?
The son was screaming, while on the ground being cuffed, that the tow truck driver "gunned it" at his mother. Did that happen? Was gunning a tow truck at an old lady unavoidable?
I know that I always try to avoid engaging in physical violence, and I'm usually successful at that. But if somebody killed my mother right in front of me, I might also have trouble avoiding it.
The son didn't actually kill the tow truck driver. Was that accidental, or on purpose? Murder avoided?
Driver is critical.
By dmcboston
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 12:10pm
So, wait and see how it turns out.
In situations where there's a pedestrian/MVA collision, the driver, if it's a bad one, frequently winds up in the hospital because of the stress.
Knifing him didn't help.
Aw. the poor drivers
By anon
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 1:43pm
It is so distressing to kill someone while your head is up your ass!
Such horrible consequences for taking a life!
Seen this driver before
By anon
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 1:04pm
Seen him use his vehicle to intimidate and scare people out crosswalks.
Can you prove these
By anon
Sat, 09/22/2018 - 9:00am
Can you prove these allegations? Because I can say the same for you and your huffy there sparky.
"road rage incident" ??
By SC from JP
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 3:36pm
Road rage means you're mad that someone cut you off. Being mad that someone just killed your mother is maybe something else.
I had that same reaction
By mg
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 3:41pm
This wasn't road rage. It was rage at someone killing your mother in front of you. Calling it road rage trivializes it.
Bad Bad...
By B
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 3:52pm
...intersection. Worse than Cambridge St by MGH. This is a crime of passion, not some pre meditated crime. Definitely NOT condoning this reaction...but it's understandable as one sees their relative deceased in front of them. If he has priors the penalties will be stiffer.
Accidents happen
By anon
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 4:10pm
Accidents happen. Other commenters saying this is a "crime of passion"; etc are ridiculous. Read the article saying witnesses said the driver was saying "I didn't see her, I didn't see her".
Adults shouldn't believe in vigilante justice, it's an immature concept. What if the driver was having a medical emergency that caused the crash? Pull him out and gut him because you are mad?
Yeah
By BostonDog
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 5:14pm
He killed his mother. If that's not traumatizing to the point of loosing control of basic reasoning, nothing is.
I don't think stabbing was the right move here, obviously
By fungwah
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 5:20pm
but "I didn't see her" is not a valid excuse for hitting someone with your motor vehicle.
"accidents happen" is
By Kinopio
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 5:26pm
"accidents happen" is bullshit. First of all its a crash not an accident. Calling it an accident implies that the driver was not at fault. Almost 100% of crashes are human error.
And "I didn't see her" is a bullshit excuse too. It is the responsibility of the driver to know what is going on around them. If you fail and hit someone you need to suffer serious consequences. If you can't handle that then don't drive. And having a medical emergency? What are the odds of that? Give me a break. If you are prone to medical emergencies then don't operate a 5,000 pound killing machine on city streets. There is no excuse.
Careful
By spin_o_rama
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 5:48pm
That kind of language could easily trigger the car apologists here and send them off on a tirade about you hating cars.
Of course they'll totally gloss over the fact that you and others are just advocating for people to not get murdered by cars but whatevs.
calm down
By anon
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 5:47pm
I know you are the resident anti-car person here, and flying off the handle about godly pedestrians, heavenly bicycles and devil vehicles is your thing, so your response is not surprising, along with your lackies also commenting.
Maybe this lady walked into the side of a halfway tow truck already halfway by her. Maybe she had a medical emergency causing her to fall into its path, or the driver did. Or, maybe it was just an accident, which happened before devil cars were invented, when a horse and buggy could run you over.
And to your wonderful point about medical emergencies, I don't know if one happened or didn't, and I don't think you do either from the article posted, but they are sometimes - believe it or not - completely out of the blue with no warning signs.
And "Almost 100%" is a bullshit stat, while we're disproving your vitriol against devil drivers.
But we don’t know what happened
By Waquiot
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 6:32pm
Yes, Kinopio is blowing smoke at this point, but until all the facts are released, we know nothing.
I’m not ready to crucify or praise the tow truck driver. The son, on the other hand, took a knife and stabbed the guy. That’s really, really bad.
Agree
By Bill
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 11:43pm
The dominant mentality driving is full focus on making your trip take 24 minutes not 27. I see people only caring about getting through the next light or getting past the car slowing down. And then, well, “accidents happenâ€. And people injured or ran off the road are supposed to accept that (see: Walsh, Marty).
When driving a car on city streets your prime responsibility is for the safety of people around you. I drive and I know when I’m not on the highway. It’s a packed urban area where a three mile trip is going to take ten minutes any time. Risking lives to maybe make that thirty seconds quicker is insane. But that’s what people do.
Three miles in ten minutes or more
By anon
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 11:23am
That's why we need bike infrastructure.
A hundred years ago hardly anyone could
By u-hub-fan
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 3:39pm
tell the time accurately to the nearest minute. Today we all act like getting there a few seconds after the hour means we're "late".
I have to be a passenger with one of my clients on a regular basis. He's that guy who drives an enormous pick-up truck, tailgates you with it, creeps into your path while he's waiting to turn, and honks at you if you have the nerve to make a left while he's behind you. And I'm sitting there cringing, thinking, "Dude, we're on target to be half an hour early, what is your problem?"
Uh...
By UHub-fan
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 8:11am
I dunno what planet you're on, but on mine an event can be an accident, and yet someone can still be responsible for causing it.
It's called "intent".
"Boys will be boys"
By blues_lead
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 5:37pm
"Boys will be boys"
Accident?
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 6:33pm
Collisions happen more frequently when people do not drive responsibly.
FTFY
Would you have made this comment if the tow truck operator harmed the guy's mother any other way or would he be a hero to you? Had the guy just "made a mistake" while breaking into a home rather than failing to yield right of way?
"I didn't see her, I didn't see her".
By Scratchie
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 11:35am
As a driver, it's his responsibility to watch out for pedestrians. He confessed in front of witnesses that he was driving recklessly.
Crime and punishment
By Unquity
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 4:29pm
What an awful situation. It is interesting the commenters here are hashing out debates that formed our criminal common law over centuries of evolution. To what extent should we punish intent to kill even if it doesn't result in death? How shall we punish those who, perhaps with the best intentions, killed merely because of carelessness? Should we mitigate punishment for those in the height of passion? How close does the relation have to be and how bad the situation to mitigate punishment for retaliation?
There are no good ends here, just choices between less bad ones.
I’m playing GTA
By THE_WIZ
Wed, 09/19/2018 - 4:41pm
And the same exact thing just happened ! Whooo!
GTA?
By lbb
Thu, 09/20/2018 - 9:09am
GFY.
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