Massachusetts Officer, Utility Worker Killed in Roadside Crash, Driver Charged

A Waltham, Massachusetts, police officer was killed Wednesday night when a man drove through a construction area. Also killed in the crash was a utility worker. The driver is in custody.

Driver Peter Simon is accused of running down Officer Paul Tracey, 58, a 28-year veteran of the Waltham Police Department and Roderick Jackson, 36, a National Grid worker from Cambridge, the Boston Herald reports.

Officer Tracey was reportedly working a roadside detail when he was fatally struck by a pickup truck driven by the suspect.

Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said Simon continued driving down the road after hitting the Officer Tracey and National Grid’s Jackson, striking at least two other vehicles before he allegedly abandoned his truck and fled on foot into a nearby neighborhood, WHDH reports.

There, Ryan said Simon encountered a Waltham police officer, allegedly pulled a knife, stole the officer’s cruiser, and fled the scene. 

Ryan said Simon later crashed the cruiser eet in Waltham. With police in pursuit, Ryan said, he was subsequently taken into custody. 

Simon had been charged with two counts of manslaughter and armed robbery as of Wednesday night, according to Ryan.