Public Help Requested To Help Find Witnesses To Fatal Hit And Run In Wellesley

From the Wellesley Police Department website:

The Wellesley Police Department in conjunction with the Massachusetts State Police and the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office are continuing to investigate a fatal motor vehicle crash involving a cyclist, Alexander Motsenigos a 41 year old Wellesley resident, which was reported on Friday, August 24, 2012 at 1:58 p.m. on Weston Road near the intersection of Linden Street. The cyclist, Alexander Motsenigos sustained fatal injuries during the crash and was transported from the scene to Newton Wellesley Hospital. Mr. Motsenigos was riding a Specialized bicycle and was wearing a bicycle safety helmet at the time of the crash.

After reviewing video footage from area traffic cameras the vehicle has been identified and located and the apparent operator of the vehicle involved has also been identified and interviewed. The vehicle is an 18 wheel dump trailer. The Wellesley Police Department and Massachusetts State Police are continuing to process all of the evidence related to the crash. As this is an ongoing investigation additional information about the vehicle and the operator are not being released at this time. The video footage confirmed that both the cyclist and the truck were traveling north on Weston Road from Central Street.
The Wellesley Police Department believes there may be other witnesses to this crash. The video footage from area traffic cameras shows three other vehicles that drove through the area in which the crash occurred around the same time, none of these vehicles are believed to have been involved in the crash. The description and photographs of these vehicles are included below. We are urging the individuals who were operating these vehicles or any passengers in these vehicles to contact the Wellesley Police Department at 781-235-1212.

The first possible witness vehicle that the Wellesley Police Department is requesting the public’s help in identifying is a black colored 4 door sedan which was at the intersection of Linden Street at Weston Road at approximately 1:56 p.m. on Friday, August 24, 2012. This vehicle is believed to have been the 2nd car in line that took a left onto the Weston Road bridge and then a right onto Central Street. This vehicle was behind a grey Volvo which has already been identified.

The second possible witness vehicle that the Wellesley Police Department is requesting the public’s help in identifying is a brown or grey colored large SUV with a roof rack and sun or moon roof. It is possibly a Toyota. This vehicle is believed to have been driving south on Weston Road near the intersection of Linden Street at the time of the crash. The vehicle then took a left onto Linden Street and continued down Linden Street through the Crest Road intersection. This vehicle is also pictured in a video that will be released as well.

The third possible witness vehicle that the Wellesley Police Department is requesting the public’s help in identifying is a small dark colored two door sedan or coupe which was travelling directly behind the brown of grey colored large SUV and is believed to have been driving south on Weston Road near the intersection of Linden Street at the time of the crash. The vehicle then took a left onto Linden Street and continued down Linden Street through the Crest Road intersection. Both the 2nd vehicle and 3rd vehicle we are looking to identify are pictured in a video that will be released as well.

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Fatal Hit And Run In Wellesley

This is horrible, a man in his 40’s was killed today in Wellesley.

warning graphic image

More info here, and here.

It looks like he was riding a black carbon specialized, or at least that is what it looks like to me. If anyone has any information about this please leave it in the comments. There is also a helmet in some of the photos, but the wheels appear to have been moved over to the fence? For a bike to crack up this badly it must have been hit with a far amount of force. My best wishes go out to his family and friends. This is criminal, and whoever did this needs to be brought to justice.

More info when I get it.

EDIT: The comments hold a lot of updates, reprinted here:

Thanks for wandering woman on wheels for all the updates.

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New Cyclist And Pedestrian Bridge Between Newton and Wellesley

From the Newton Tab

This is what all the fuss is about...

Newton —
Nearly a decade after state Rep. Kay Khan set out to restore a dangerous and unused bridge connecting Newton to Wellesley, officials cut the ribbon on the newly reconstructed Trestle Bridge.

“All I can say is wow, what a day, what an accomplishment,” said Khan, a Lower Falls resident, at the ceremony Tuesday. “It has been a great community effort.”
The funding for the renovation of the former rail bridge spanning the Charles River came from Gov. Deval Patrick’s 2008 accelerated bridge program and the project was overseen by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the Department of Transportation (DOT). The push to remodel the bridge, which has been unused and decrepit for nearly 40 years, faced stiff opposition from Lower Falls residents whose homes border the bridge and who claimed it would lead to a bike trail through the neighborhood.

“We were astonished at the outpouring of rage from a small number of abutters,” said Alderman Deborah Crossley, who was on the Newton League of Women Voters—one of the local groups involved in the project—at the time the project was being discussed.
Public officials and community members from both Wellesley and Newton came out for the ceremonial ribbon cutting Tuesday.
The project went through seven years of meetings and public hearings before the Newton Conservation Commission finally approved the design in May 2010, Khan said. Reconstruction of the bridge began in late fall 2010 and was completed in May 2011.

Read more: Rebuilt bridge connecting Newton and Wellesley open to bicycles, pedestrians – Newton, Massachusetts – Newton TAB

I love stories like this, heres how they go:

1. Someone thinks “Hey we should turn that old, whatever, into a bike/walking trail!”
2. Great idea!
3. Rich people: “Hells no, crime, murder, the sky is falling!”
4. Ten years later: Trail is built
5. Rich people: “The SKY IS FALLING!!”
6. Five years later: trail needs repair Rich People: “Don’t you dare even think about not rebuilding our trail, its a cherished part of our neighborhood!”
7. Something thinks “hey would should extend that trail!”
8. Rich people “Hells no, crime, murder, the sky is falling!”
etc, etc.

This happens over and over and over. Trails is proposed, people freak out, trail is finally built after years of silly struggle, people love the trail, everyones property values go up. I honestly can’t think of a single example where building more pedestrian and cyclist trail infrastructure lead to the kind of sky is falling results people who are against these things spout. Congrats on the new bridge everyone, a hard fought battle won. On to the next one!

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