I-Team: Driver in Hingham Apple store crash had drunk driving charge on record
HINGHAM - A man was killed and 19 other people were hurt when an SUV crashed into the glass front of an Apple store in Hingham Monday.
Sources told WBZ-TV's I-Team the driver of the mangled Toyota 4Runner is a 53-year-old Massachusetts man who the district attorney says is with police. The I-Team has also learned the man had an out-of-state drunk driving charge on his record.
Sources say reconstructing crashes like this one takes time. They will be trying to determine if it was an accident, a mechanical failure or something else.
Sources tell the I-Team the crash is now in the hands of the Massachusetts State Police Collision analysis and reconstruction team. Sources say investigators will use forensic data from the SUV's black box to determine how fast the vehicle was going and if he tried to brake before the crash.
The I-Team has also learned investigators are collecting video surveillance from the shopping plaza and nearby cameras to piece together what the driver was doing before the crash.
Witnesses say the SUV was speeding into the store that had no protective barriers in front of it. Many retailers install bollards on the edge of sidewalks to protect pedestrians and shoppers. They are made of steel or concrete strong enough to stop a car.
"Bollards are really effective if they are correctly installed and they save lives every single day," explained Robert Reiter of the Storefront Safety Council.
Bollards may have prevented the 2016 deadly Sweet Tomatoes pizza shop crash in Newton. Two people were killed, and several others were injured. Since then, the city installed bollards at the corner.
But there is no law in Massachusetts requiring bollards.
Reiter, who logged more than 800 similar accidents over the past ten years, testified in favor of legislation that would have required them. But the bill stalled in committee last year.
"It's a risk to our families, where we like to work, play, shop and eat," he said.
