Waltham, Massachusetts – A tragic incident unfolded in a Boston suburb when a pickup truck driver crashed into and killed a police officer and a utility worker at a work site, sparking charges of second-degree murder among others, prosecutors and police revealed on Wednesday. The driver, identified as Peter Simon, hailing from Woodsville, New Hampshire, is facing a host of charges including motor vehicle homicide, armed robbery, armed carjacking, and fleeing from the scene of a crash causing death.
According to authorities, the devastating crashes occurred on December 6 in Waltham, resulting in the deaths of Waltham Police Officer Paul Tracey, 58, and National Grid utility worker Roderick Jackson, 36, of Cambridge. Simon is set to be arraigned at a later date and is presently detained without bail, as confirmed by the Middlesex District Attorney’s office and local law enforcement.
Simon’s attorney, Lynda Dantas, refrained from commenting as she had not yet seen the indictments. The series of events began when Simon attempted a U-turn on a road, striking another vehicle before driving into Tracey and Jackson at the work site – a marked trench with orange cones, signs, and yellow flashing lights, where Tracey was overseeing police detail duties.
The pickup truck continued its destructive path, colliding with a National Grid truck and several other vehicles, before Simon abandoned the truck and tried to flee on foot. In a desperate turn of events, he brandished a knife at another police officer, seized his cruiser, and made a run for it, only to later crash the stolen vehicle and be taken into custody by authorities.
Located about 10 miles west of Boston, Waltham became the backdrop of a tragic incident that claimed the lives of two individuals and left a community in mourning. The legal proceedings against Simon mark a significant development in the case, shedding light on the severity of the events that unfolded on that fateful day in December.