Cyclist Hit By Truck On Mass. Ave.

Photo by Steve Annear

A cyclist was taken to Boston Medical Center with what appeared to be a serious leg injury after witnesses said a truck carrying lumber along Massachusetts Avenue hit her and ran over her bike.

The accident happened in front of Symphony Hall, where construction crews are repairing the sidewalks. A worker who witnessed the accident said the large lumber truck, with a “Reeds Ferry Lumber” logo on the side, was turning right from Westland Avenue and onto Mass. Ave. when she got “pulled under” the truck’s back tire.

“The truck just turned wide and closed her in,” said Dale Colby, who has been doing construction at the scene in front of Symphony Hall. “It brought tears to my eyes. Seeing that woman laying there—it squished her right in. I heard her scream and saw her tied up with the tire.”

After the vehicle allegedly struck the cyclist, bystanders rushed to her aid and stabilized her leg and head until paramedics and police arrived on scene. The operator of the vehicle stopped after the crash, and spoke with officers.

Traffic was brought to a standstill along Mass. Ave., and commuters coming off of an MBTA bus directly behind the crash site were forced to walk through the accident scene as strangers tended to the woman, and tried to keep her calm.

Orange cones and rope, separating the construction crews from the roadway, mark the strip of Mass. Ave. where the crash occurred. There was little space between passing vehicles and pedestrians forced to walk in the street in order to circumvent the ongoing construction.

Colby said that there was no police detail at the scene when the truck allegedly hit the woman. “If there was a cop there this would never have happened,” he said.

Rich Russo, a second construction worker at Symphony Hall, confronted a police officer that showed up after the incident to direct traffic, as paramedics put the woman on a stretcher to bring her to the hospital.

“I said to him, ‘what, now you show up?’ We needed a detail before this happened,” said Russo.

The cyclist’s boyfriend, who did not give his name, showed up to the accident scene after the crash, and got into an argument with police because cyclists and pedestrians continued to pass through the area where the woman was hit, just inches from the traffic crawling by.

In a follow-up email later in the day, the boyfriend reached out to Boston and said the cyclist underwent surgery, and “should be OK.”

Only after the accident, and after the woman’s boyfriend reprimanded police on the scene, did officials erect a more secure path using rope and cones to separate pedestrians from the traffic.

Boston will update this story when more information is available. Police did not immediately say if the driver was issued a citation.

Photo by Steve Annear