Great Barrington — A 24-year-old woman was airlifted to Hartford Hospital on Thursday night (December 18) after being injured in a hit and run accident in front of Town Hall. She was released the next day (December 19), according to Great Barrington Police Chief William Walsh. While walking on the sidewalk, she had been struck by a car that had swerved off South Main Street and slammed into her.
Here is what can be pieced together from the preliminary Great Barrington Police reports: Just before 7 p.m. on December 18, Amy Smith of Medford, Mass., was walking with her boyfriend on the sidewalk in front of Town Hall.
A northbound car driven by 24-year-old Dylan A. Winters of Canaan, Conn., crossed the two southbound lanes in front of Town Hall, passed between two large trees and hit Smith, according to the reports of police officers Christopher Peebles and Daniel Bartini, who arrived at the scene shortly after. In a press release Chief Walsh stated: “The car also hit two park benches, then scraped another tree, then struck a stone monument and finally ran into two cars parked in front of Town Hall.”
Winters, of High Street in Canaan, got out of his car, then got back in and backed it up. With headlights off, he headed south on Main Street (Route 7), made a right on Taconic Avenue at the CVS Pharmacy, but afterwards managed to drive five miles south to Sheffield Pottery in Sheffield, where he abandoned his car.
Left at the scene in front of Town Hall was a piece of the car’s front bumper containing the license plate.
A little more than an hour after the incident, at 8 p.m., Winters turned himself in. He walked into the Great Barrington Police Station, and told police he left his car at Sheffield Pottery; the car was later impounded at the Great Barrington police department for evaluation. The police report did not explain how Winters got from the Sheffield Pottery to the Great Barrington Police Station at the intersection of Routes 7 and 23, or the route Winters used to get to Sheffield.
Winters was arrested by officer Peebles, then released on bail on personal recognizance after being charged with leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, and with reckless operation of a motor vehicle. Winters will be arraigned this week in Southern Berkshire District Court.
The Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit is helping Great Barrington police in their investigation. The Great Barrington Fire Department, the Southern Berkshire Volunteer Ambulance Squad, the Lee State Police Barracks, and police from Sheffield and Egremont also assisted.
Both town park benches were destroyed. Fortunately, the stone monument commemorating the location in 1774 of the first armed action against British rule in the Colonies, was only scuffed.
