Great Barrington — An 87-year-old Canaan, Connecticut woman faces criminal charges after the car she was driving today (May 27) hit two women, an 11-month-old baby girl in a stroller, and a three-year-old girl as the group crossed Main Street in the crosswalk near the Railroad Street intersection.
The Great Barrington Police Department, which is still investigating the 10:49 a.m. accident, issued a statement that said all four had “non-life threatening injuries,” and were taken by ambulance to Berkshire Medical Center.
The driver, the only occupant of the car, was not injured. She was charged with “Negligent Operation of a Motor Vehicle and Failure to Yield to Pedestrians in a Crosswalk.”
Police Chief William Walsh did not include the name of the driver or adult victims in his report. Walsh did not return calls Friday.
It was the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend traffic pile-up and Luke Germain was about to make a left turn from Main Street onto Railroad when he stopped for the pedestrians, who were heading to the east side of the street. “Definitely right at the center of the [southbound] crosswalk,” he said.
The next thing he knew, one of the women and a toddler had been hit by the southbound car, traveling on inside lane. This woman, the baby, and toddler, had been pushed farther into the crosswalk by the impact from side of the car. But the other woman landed on the hood after a direct hit by what Germain said he thought was a black Hyundai. The driver continued forward without stopping, not seeming to notice the person on her hood, he added.
“I was honking and waving,” Germain told the Edge, “and when I opened my car door it seemed like she saw me and finally pulled over to the side of the road.” The man behind him was calling 911. “I swear she had no idea she was hitting people,” he said. “She was in la la land.”
When the driver, who did not wear glasses, finally stopped, the woman on the hood was thrown about five feet forward, Germain said.
Germain, who owns Tune Street, which sits at the corner of the intersection, said the woman was not unconscious, and even said, “I’m OK,” and said she wanted to get up. But he said everyone around ran to her, including an off-duty EMT, who told her not to move. Others, he said, ran to help the other woman with the children, whom Germain said “seemed to be pretty much OK.” The child had scrapes along her back. He said the police arrived “really quick and told us all to move our cars.”
Germain said he was heartened by the way people swooped in to help. “It was really cool,” he said. “People were instantly helping and holding the baby.”
Robin Curletti, owner of Fuel Coffee Shop on Main Street, said she is “furious.” Once she was almost mowed down in the crosswalk, she said, and had made repeated requests of town officials to consider making changes to make the business district safer.
“We’ve all told the town a million times,” she said. “I can’t believe we did this [Main Street] renovation and didn’t change this.”
As Curletti spoke to the Edge in front of Tune Street, cars whizzed by, exceeding the speed limit through the very same crosswalk. She observed that speeds have increased since the roads have been smoothed out during last year’s Main Street Reconstruction project, a Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) undertaking to improve the state highway and surrounding infrastructure.
Curletti said while there is a removable pedestrian sign at the center of the crosswalk, it is taken down in the winter. And she noted the customary absence of police presence and ticketing on Main Street, where officers could have been monitoring and controlling Main Street speeders.
“You don’t speed through Egremont do you?” she said, referring to the familiar and nearly constant police presence that has successfully deterred speeders for years.
Germain said that years ago a police officer used to stand in the crosswalk. He said “around a dozen people have gotten hit in the crosswalk” since he bought the store 14 years ago. One was a high school student, who one February night was hit in the crosswalk and suffered a broken leg, Germain said.
Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin said while she hadn’t yet read the initial accident report, “safety on Main Street is a top priority for me and for the town. We all share the same concerns.” She added that the town will “continue to work” on the speeding issue.
Germain said the adults who were hit were not paying attention to the cars to make sure they stopped. “Yeah, the driver should have stopped, but the people walking should have looked.
“Seeing that baby stroller hit,” he added. “That was tough.”
Great Barrington Police were assisted by the Great Barrington Fire Department, the Southern Berkshire Volunteer Ambulance Squad, North Canaan Ambulance Volunteer Ambulance Corps, the Sheffield Police Department and the Monterey Police Department.
