Somerville police arrest suspect in fatal hit-and-run
Police have arrested Edward Clark, 55, of Norwood in connection with the Feb. 8 hitand-run on Powder House Boulevard in Somerville that killed a beloved educator.
Clark was charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing death, said Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. He will be arraigned today in Somerville District Court.
Allison Donovan, 40, of Somerville, who spent years as a teacher and then K-8 literacy coordinator for Watertown Public Schools, was killed in the incident. Another woman was injured, authorities said.
Donovan’s funeral was held Thursday. Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone expressed his condolences to her family. He described Donovan as the “most sincere, compassionate and loving person” who touched the lives of many in Somerville and beyond. “It has been a big loss for all of us,” he said. At a press conference Thursday evening, authorities said it was “good, old-fashioned, boots-on-the-ground police work” that led to Clark’s arrest.
Donovan and another woman were struck in a crosswalk at the intersection of Powder House Boulevard and Hardan Road at about 7:16 p.m. last Friday, police said. Both were taken to Mount Auburn Hospital, where Donovan was pronounced dead. The other woman was treated and released, authorities said.
Police worked to track down the 2003 black Ford F-150 pickup truck that allegedly struck the two women, with the help of images of a full-size, black pickup truck taken from nearby video surveillance cameras at about the same time as the fatal incident.
On Thursday, a Tufts University police officer found the pickup truck with frontend damage on University Avenue and notified Somerville police, Ryan said. Investigators located Clark, the truck’s owner, and arrested him. The truck was impounded, Ryan said.
The crash remains under investigation.