OUT-OF-CONTROL SUV KILLS 66-YEAR-OLD
Car went 200 yards in reverse
An out-of-control Mercedes-Benz SUV barreling out of a Brockton courthouse parking lot in reverse crossed two grass embankments and two roadways before striking and killing a Bridgewater grandfather who was putting in his court-ordered volunteer hours.
“I was supposed to pick him up an hour ago, and that’s not going to happen,” said a woman at 66-yearold John “Jay” Buckley’s home who identified herself as his wife. She said through tears that she and her husband have two sons and a number of grandchildren.
“He was doing community service,” the grieving woman told the Herald before running inside Buckley’s home and requesting privacy. “Jay was a private guy. … He was happy at home. He had some problems, but he was in recovery.”
The crash happened at 8 a.m. as the SUV’s female driver lost control and — in reverse gear — drove up a hill next to the court’s parking lot, across a driveway, up another hill, over a hedge of bushes next to the sidewalk — striking Buckley — across West Elm Street and through a parking lot, before slamming into a burnt-out four-story brick building, police said.
In all, the Mercedes drove about 200 feet in reverse.
A blue hat, a pair of sunglasses with the right lens popped out, and a shoe were strewn across the road as accident investigators took in the scene and later towed the SUV.
Buckley was rushed to Brockton Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:40 a.m., according to Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz.
Cruz said Buckley “was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. … What happened here today is a tragic incident for the poor victim, and also for anybody who may have happened to be in the area.”
The driver, who police and the district attorney declined to identify, spoke to police at the crash scene. She was distraught and requested medical attention and was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, Cruz said.
The driver has not been charged in the crash, the district attorney’s office said.
Cruz said accident investigators were checking to see if the SUV was functioning properly at the time