Great Barrington — An 88-year-old Canaan, Connecticut, woman who drove into four pedestrians in a Main Street crosswalk last June was fined, sentenced to probation, and is no longer allowed to drive, according to court documents.
Adina Simonson, who drove about 55 feet with one pedestrian on her car, can no longer drive in Massachusetts after the Great Barrington Police Department asked the Registry of Motor Vehicles to place the restriction. Simonson is also prevented from ever reapplying for a new drivers license.
Southern Berkshire District Court Judge Paul Vrabel also ruled that Simonson must pay a $50 victim witness fee, and $50 per month for probation that will last until June 29, 2017.
Simonson was charged with one count of crosswalk violations and two counts of negligent operation of a motor vehicle after she drove her southbound Kia right through the crosswalk and struck two women, a 3-year-old, and an 11-month-old in a stroller “sending them flying forward” according to GBPD Officer Samuel Stolzar’s police report. One woman was thrown onto Simonson’s hood where she remained until Simonson stopped, not braking heavily, “approximately 55 feet past the crosswalk.” The stop threw the victim to the ground, the report said.
The pedestrians had been crossing from west to east at the Main and Railroad Street intersection. Witnesses to the accident ran to help the victims until the ambulances came.
The four victims were taken to Berkshire Medical Center with various injuries that included broken bones and road rash. When Stolzar interviewed one of the women at the hospital, she said she had seen Simonson’s car as they were crossing, and that it seemed far enough away and appeared to be slowing enough that she felt safe crossing with her family. She then placed her attention on her children.
After the accident, the town painted all Main Street crosswalks red and white, saying it would help visibility. And residents said there had been a number of accidents in the crosswalks over the years and many close calls.
Stolzar wrote that, in his investigation, he had also watched surveillance video from exterior cameras outside Barrington Outfitters, which clearly showed Simonson’s car, the only one travelling southbound at that moment, sailing through the crosswalk.
“At no time does Simonson hit her brakes,” Stolzar wrote.
