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Police Release Name Of Woman Killed On Mass. Ave.

Written by Boston Biker on Aug 08

My deepest sympathies go out to her friends and family.  I can only hope that real change comes from this tragedy.

From the BPD:

At about 7:05 AM on Friday, August 7, 2015, officers assigned to District D-4 (South End) responded to a call for a bicyclist struck in the area of Beacon Street and Massachusetts Avenue.   On arrival, officers located a female victim, who has since been identified as Anita Kurmann, 38, of Cambridge, suffering from life threatening injuries. The victim later succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced deceased.

Investigators have located the flat-bed tractor trailer truck and the operator involved in this accident.  The Boston Police Department continues to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident.  Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at (617) 343-4470.

Community members wishing to assist this investigation anonymously can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1(800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463). The Boston Police Department will stringently guard and protect the identities of those who wish to help this investigation anonymously.

EDIT:

More information has been released about Anita. Such a lovely person, she will be missed I am sure. Again my deepest sympathies go out to her friends and family.(via)

anitafromBU-8461[1]

Anita Kurmann came to Boston from Switzerland nearly three years ago as an endocrine surgeon who wanted to put her medical training to use in a research lab.

She did that and much more, her supervisors said, forging a relationship between laboratories at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston University as they collaborated on transforming embryonic stem cells into functional thyroid tissue.

But just as she was preparing to return to Switzerland to set up her own research lab later this year, Kurmann, 38, was killed while riding her bicycle Friday morning at a busy Back Bay intersection. Her death stunned colleagues at both labs.

“She was the kind of the person you want to be your surgeon,” Dr. Tony Hollenberg said Saturday night. Hollenberg supervised Kurmann at Beth Israel.

“She was kind. She was compassionate,” he said. “She had it all. It’s a huge loss.”

Kurmann was killed after she was struck around 7:05 a.m. Friday at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Beacon Street, police said. A long flatbed tractor-trailer truck was making a right turn from Massachusetts Avenue onto Beacon Street when the fatal collision occurred.

Kurmann recently moved to Cambridge and biked often, Hollenberg said. Her fellow researchers spent Friday trying to get answers and get in touch with Kurmann’s relatives in Switzerland, Hollenberg said.

“She was European and that was the mode of transportation,” he said. “She was a great athlete.”

Dr. Darrell Kotton, who worked with Kurmann at BU’s Center for Regenerative Medicine, said he had hoped she would have a long career.

“She brought out the best in me and my team,” Kotton said. “It’s just a devastating loss.”

Hollenberg credited Kurmann with uniting the two labs.

“Because of her perseverance, her personality, her ability to get along . . . she built the bridges between our two labs,” he said.

The project she was working on related to turning embryonic stem cells into thyroid tissue was almost complete, and Kurmann was preparing the research for publication in a journal, Hollenberg said. The research was aimed at helping people who are born without a thyroid or have their thyroid surgically removed, according to Hollenberg.

“Nothing scared her, and that’s what allowed her to be successful in this project. She didn’t know how hard it was. She just thought that all science projects were like this,” he said. “It’s an incredible loss. She was loved by everybody who ever worked with her.”

Hollenberg sent a message to colleagues saying that Kurmann came to Beth Israel to broaden her knowledge of science and she contributed to the hospital in many ways — but that she will be missed for so much more.

”Above and beyond her many professional achievements, Anita was – most importantly – brilliant in life,” he wrote. “She was dynamic and kind-hearted and the consummate friend, professional and achiever. We will miss her deeply.”

Boston Police spokesman Stephen McNulty called the investigation “active and ongoing.”

The truck and the operator have been located, McNulty said. He could not say whether investigators have spoken with the operator, and police have not named the operator.

A man at nearby Quality Market on Saturday said he was there when it happened. A witness ran into the store, he said, and yelled, “Call 911!”

“I ran outside and I [saw] her,” said the man, who only gave his name as Chafik. “When I got there, she was dead. That was it.”

The growing makeshift memorial honoring Kurmann at the site includes flowers, a Boston Bike Party sticker with a black line through it, and a copy of James Joyce’s short story “The Dead.”

Jami King, 26, of Mission Hill, biked to crash site Saturday evening and placed a mixed bouquet of flowers at the memorial.

Wiping away tears, King said she did not know Kurmann, but used to ride by that spot regularly on her way to school.

“This could have been me,” she said.

Richard Inonog, 36, and his wife, Colleen O’Malley, 34, of the South End, visited the site Saturday on their bicycles to pay tribute to Kurmann, though they did not know her.

“We’re always worried because the same thing could happen to us at any time,” O’Malley said as tears fell.

“There’s a lot of aggression toward cyclists,” she said. “You’re not as valued.”

Inonog said the city must implement safeguards, like well-marked bike lanes, to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

“It’s really stressful,” he said. “You’re always thinking about being safe.”

A letter to Kurmann had been left earlier in a box.

The writer, who signed the note “Gretta,” said people had comforted Kurmann after she was hit.

“Know your daughter left this world with love [and] concern by her side,” Gretta wrote. “For a short time that I was here, she was strong.”


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Woman Cyclist Killed On Mass. Ave. In Hit And Run

Written by Boston Biker on Aug 07

Check in with your friends.  Does anyone know who this is.  This is horrible, and marks yet another instance of large trucks having fatal interactions with cyclists.

bicyclist1

fatalbike

 

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More images here

——

A woman riding a bike was struck and killed by a truck in an apparent hit-and-run in the Back Bay Friday morning.

The cyclist was hit by the rear wheel of a flatbed truck as it turned off Massachusetts Avenue onto Beacon Street around 7 a.m.

The woman was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital where she died a short time later, according to police.

Her name has not been released, but investigators said she was in her 20’s. (via)

 

If you see a truck matching the following description let police know right away.

 

Police said it is possible the truck driver was not aware the cyclist had been hit.

They’re looking for a flatbed truck with a red sleeper cab and a damaged chrome grill.

A city traffic camera has video of crash, according to police, and authorities plan to release images of the truck soon.

No other information is available at this point in the investigation.

Does anyone know who owns this bike?

 

fatalbike2

 

More info from the globe:

 

 

She was struck by a tractor-trailer unit pulling a flatbed trailer loaded with steel, said Boston Police Superintendent Bernard O’Rourke. Police were called to the scene at 7:05 a.m.

He described the tractor-trailer as having a red sleeper cab with chrome air horns on top of it, and some damage to the grill. He said the truck driver may not have seen the bicyclist, but stressed the investigation is just starting.

He said surveillance cameras in the neighborhood captured the incident and some of that footage may be released to the public later Friday.

“It’s a very, very tragic situation,’’ O’Rouke said.

The search for the vehicle is underway. “We are checking everything we can. We are looking at every single surveillance camera we can check,” he said. “We’re doing whatever we can to find the truck.”

Zach Cloyd, 31, who lives next door to the scene, said he stopped biking home from work because this particular intersection is dangerous.

“That exact corner, waiting at that corner, I’ve had someone almost hit me as they were turning right,” he said.

In the aftermath of the crash, there was a bike with a crushed handlebar laying at the intersection and nearby a helmet laying next to the bike.(via)

EDIT:

 

This is the truck they are looking for:

 

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(via)

 

EDIT:

 

See a periscope of the officer at the scene talking about the crash.

 

EDIT:

UHub reports this is a very dangerous intersection, which we figured out in 2013.  Lets hope we do something with that data now. (via)

 

The Back Bay intersection where a bicyclist was hit and killed this morning was identified in a city report two years ago as the most dangerous in the city for bicyclists.

A 2013 report on bicycle safety commissioned by then Mayor Menino found the intersection of Beacon Street and Massachusetts Avenue had more bicycle crashes than any other – and noted it was just two blocks away from the second riskiest intersection for bicyclists:

We found that nearly 60% of all bicycle collisions occurred at street intersections. Of the 7 locations with 5 or more geographically identical collision locations, the top two intersections with the highest number of crashes were in the Back Bay/Beacon Hill neighborhood, with 14 collisions at Beacon St and Massachusetts Ave and 12 collisions at Massachusetts Avenue and Commonwealth Ave (Westbound).

H/t Penny Cherubino.

EDIT:

BPS has released more pictures of the truck.

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They have also said that the woman was in her early 30’s not her 20’s.

 

EDIT:

They found the driver and the truck.  No charges filed yet.

 

7News Boston WHDH-TV


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Cyclist Killed In Hit And Run In Dorchester

Written by Boston Biker on May 20

My deepest sympathies go out to this persons friends and family. This is a horrific tragedy.

————————-

A teenager on his bicycle was killed Tuesday after being hit by a car following a crash in Dorchester.

Two cars crashed at the intersection of Talbot and New England Streets. A young man on a bike was struck during the collision. One badly damaged BMW remained at the scene while the second car fled.

Police say they found the second car on Wednesday morning. The suspect and driver of that car, 27-year-old Gregory McCoy of Dorchester, was arrested on an unrelated warrant, but and charges were expected to be filed later on Wednesday in Dorchester District Court.

The charges include two counts of leaving the scene of an accident causing injury, one count of leaving the scene of an accident causing death, and one count of motor vehicle homicide. The suspect was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injures.

One witness, Cheline Garcia, says she heard the crash around 10 p.m. and rushed out to help. She performed CPR on the victim, who she said had a pulse but later died.
“The scene was just horrible. You can’t even explain how bad it was,” Garcia told FOX25. “He was breathing he didn’t know what was going on I told him the paramedics were on the way.”

Police continue to investigate. (via) (more video here)

More info when I get it.
EDIT:

They have released the victems name:

Prosecutors did not identify the teen, but family and friends identified him as Fritz Philogene, 18, a sophomore at West Roxbury High School. (via)

Read more »


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Female Cyclist Killed By Truck Driver In Cambridgeport

Written by Boston Biker on Mar 11

A female cyclist was struck and killed by a container truck around 1:40 p.m. Wednesday at the corner of Allston and Pleasant streets.

The victim, whose name will not be released until next of kin is notified, was pronounced dead at the scene. No charges have been made at this time against the male driver of the truck, who remained at the scene.

“If there were any witnesses, we ask them to call us at 617-349-3300,” said Jeremy Warnick, director of communications for the Cambridge Police Department.

Via

This is horrible, more information when I get it. My heart goes out to her friends and family.

Edit: Update, she may have been walking her bike, it is unclear at this point

a dump truck hit a 65-year-old Cambridge woman as she either rode or walked her bicycle from a parking area onto Putnam Avenue between River and Pleasant streets, near a Whole Foods Market, where she may have been shopping, authorities said.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, Cambridge police spokesman Jeremy Warnick said. Authorities did not release the names of the driver or the victim.

Via

Edit: The name of the woman killed was Marcia Deihl, there is a lovely piece on her at the globe here is a bit:

diehl-big

Friends say Marcia Deihl was always the first person to think up a witty song that perfectly captured the moment, and to encourage the same lyrical invention in others with her “Bizarre Song Parties,” where the price of admission was a ditty of one’s own.

Deihl was a Cambridge activist who spent her life fighting — and singing — for what she believed in, and who had embarked upon retirement with joy that she could finally dedicate all her time to her art.

And she loved to ride her bicycle, a clunky old three-speed decorated with paper flowers and streamers. With her long hair streaming behind her, she cut a distinctive figure, one familiar to many Cambridge residents.

On Thursday, friends mourned the untimely death of the 65-year-old, who was killed Wednesday after being hit by a dump truck while riding her bike on Putnam Avenue.

“She was an icon of Cambridge life. She was a very colorful figure, beloved by the people who knew her,” said Pam Chamberlain, a longtime friend who described Deihl as “a riot” with a keen sense of irony and a gift for bonding with people. “It’s a great loss for the folk community and the feminist movement.”

Edit: MassBike Has responded, read it here.


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How To Get Away With Murder, Grand Jury Doesn’t Charge Driver In Hit And Run Case

Written by Boston Biker on Jul 01

They say if you want to kill someone wait until they get onto a bicycle.  In a tragic state of affairs a Suffolk grand jury has decided that running someone over with a truck and then leaving the scene caries with it no consequences, if that person is riding a bicycle.

A Suffolk County grand jury declined to press charges against a garbage truck driver who struck and killed a bicyclist on Sullivan Square in April, according to The Boston Globe.

Police had initially charged Ricky Prezioso, 41, with leaving the scene of a crash after he struck and killed Owen McGrory, 34, on April 3. At the time, Prezioso said he never felt the impact of the collision. Last week the grand jury declined to press the charge further. (via)

What the fuck…shouldn’t you at least be charged with poor driving, if what you say is true YOU DIDN’T NOTICE YOU RAN SOMEONE OVER!

This is the second time someone has run over a cyclist in broad daylight drove off and not gotten any charges, the same thing happened to a Dana McCoomb in Wesllesley.

The real reason I think these things happen is not that the police and prosecutors are not trying hard enough, its that most of the people on the jury drive cars. They all see themselves sitting accused of the same thing. They looked at their phone, or was not paying attention, but for the grace of luck they could be the one who ran someone over without noticing. So they let these people walk because they don’t think its a serious thing, they think it’s an “accident.”

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It’s not an accident, its the same as shooting someone “by accident” you are in control of a deadly object, a huge powerful vehicle, and any lack of concentration on your part can and will result in the deaths of other people. Its just that guns by their design are killing machines so responsible people handle them with care. Cars are no less deadly, in fact they kill far more people than guns. (roughly 12,000 gun deaths in 2013, vs 30,000+ car deaths).

Prezioso should have been charged with something, you can not run someone down, and then leave the scene and not have broken SOME law. The members of this grand jury should all have to look Owen McGrory‘s family in the eye and explain to them why they felt no laws were broken. I assure you had McGory been driving a car and been killed by a guy in a truck that truck driver would have gotten charged with something.

For McGrory’s family, explanations are hard to come by.

“My mother — she doesn’t want to face it,” said John McGrory. “When I phone her, she keeps talking about the weather.”

John McGrory described his brother as popular both in Boston and his native Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

“He was such a likable, down-to-earth sort of lad,” said McGrory, who had visited his brother in November. Owen McGrory married his wife, Shannique, in December, and lived in Chelsea with Shannique and her son. He worked in construction and had been an avid bicyclist since childhood.

Shannique McGrory said in an e-mail that her husband was fun-loving and playful and cared deeply for her children.

“I am shocked and disappointed at the grand jury’s decision, but I believe that the truth of what happened that day will come out through the civil justice system,” she said.

“We believe that there is overwhelming evidence of gross negligence on the part of the truck driver in this case,” said Valerie Yarashus, a lawyer representing the McGrory family in the civil suit.

Prezioso and Capitol Waste Services did not respond to requests for comment.(via)


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The Word On The Street

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