City councilor starts fund to help bury bicyclist killed in Harvard Square

By adamg on Tue, 09/08/2020 - 4:29pm

Cambridge City Councilor Marc McGovern reports the family of Darryl "Pikachu" Willis, who died in a crash with a truck in Harvard Square last month, has been unable to claim his body from the state medical examiner's office because it doesn't have the money.

McGovern has set up a GoFundMe page to raise the money the family needs both to claim his body and to provide a proper burial:

I can’t imagine losing a family member so suddenly, and have that grief compounded by not being able to properly say "goodbye."

Neighborhoods:

Cambridge

Harvard Square

Free tagging:

Bicycling

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Comments

How heartbreaking

By mg on Tue, 09/08/2020 - 4:43pm.

Donated.

Thanks for sharing. Just

By Lies on Tue, 09/08/2020 - 4:50pm.

Thanks for sharing. Just donated.

Medical Examiner

By Dubitoff on Tue, 09/08/2020 - 6:46pm.

This is copied from the Mass Medical examiner’s web page. “ Fees
Our only fee is a cremation authorization fee. We charge this through the funeral director.”

Does anyone know more about this? There’s not supposed to be any fee to release a body. They must be asking for funeral expenses which is fair enough.

I don't think a body can be

By anon on Wed, 09/09/2020 - 2:18am.

I don't think a body can be released to anyone other than a funeral director, and that costs money.

You have to have the money to

By anon on Wed, 09/09/2020 - 12:37pm.

You have to have the money to pay for whatever you are going to do with the body in order to collect it, which usually means having a funeral home collect the body. I dont know why .eople online are always playing keyboard warrior trying to point out some issue with everything, then saying "I was just asking." People are kindly donating and Adam is letting people know, why insert yourself and your doubts.

Fees

By Catspaw on Wed, 09/09/2020 - 3:08pm.

They could mean cremation fees. But more likely, they need to hire a funeral director to have him released and prepared. Remains can't just be handed over to a family to bring home or do whatever.