There are a lot of ways to define tragedy. One of them is when a person takes his dog out for a familiar walk in their neighborhood, and is accidentally run down dead by a driver.
That’s what happened yesterday (Labor Day, Sep. 2,) to a man by the name of George E. Power – and to his dog. They were both killed when a 17 year-old driver struck them as they walked along Summer Street in Easton. When Easton Police and Fire Department personnel responded, they found Mr. Power lying unconscious and unresponsive in the front yard near 24 Summer Street in the town. The car appeared to have hit both Mr. Power and his dog on or near the sidewalk, before it hit a tree and came to rest. Rescue personnel did everything possible to resuscitate Mr. Power while en route to Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, but he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
The young driver’s name has not been released yet, and no charges have yet been filed as an investigation needs to be conducted by both the Easton Police Department, the State Police Accident Reconstruction Unit, and the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office. The youth’s speed was not reported as of the time this post was written, but something is indicative of the car’s approximate speed: Mr. Power’s shoes were found about 50 feet away from his body. Summer Street in Easton is not a high-speed road. This makes clear something that I’ve stressed many times on this blog, and on my Massachusetts Injury Law website: A car or other vehicle traveling just 20 MPH can kill someone. This is true whether the accident is a Massachusetts car-pedestrian accident, as was the case here, or a vehicle-to-vehicle crash.
The car that was driven by the young driver was a 2005 Infiniti sedan. Why is that relevant or important? Because it’s not a Mack truck – it’s not a huge SUV or the size of a boat – and quite clearly – it didn’t need to be. As a Boston car-pedestrian accident lawyer, I have seen too many of these types of tragic accidents. Whether the 17 year-old driver’s age in this accident is a factor or not, I don’t know yet. But I’ve been involved with many a Massachusetts pedestrian-car accident, and I can speak with authority when I say that Massachusetts teenage driver car accidents are notorious for involving negligent and inattentive driving. Most of this is due to a toxic mix of: 1) Driving inexperience; 2) A naive belief that a motor vehicle accident would “never happen” to them, and 3) Driver inattention due to texting and/or smart phone use.
N.B.: I am not saying that any of these factors played a role in this tragedy – only that a great many Massachusetts distracted driving/texting accidents involve Massachusetts teenage drivers.
A sad story. My thoughts go out to Mr. Power’s family.