Justice demanded for hero husband
Prosecutors have yet to announce any charges in last week’s horrific I-95 accident that claimed the life of a schoolteacher killed by a flying tool — but this tragedy offers them an opportunity to make a statement.
Reckless drivers and truckers cannot be allowed to terrorize commuters. One possible count could be negligent operation. Other charges could be added. Something needs to be done to send a message.
A motorist can be hit with a criminal charge under a law established to combat obscured license plates. Legal experts write police often use it following an accident involving flying ice and snow. Who hasn’t seen an ice-coated car or truck suddenly have sheets of ice go airborne and crash into an unsuspecting vehicle?
Driving to endanger is also in play because someone died. Any conviction also opens up civil charges. All of this because a screed — a tool used to level poured concrete — fell out of a Ford F550 dump truck on Interstate 95 in Danvers at 8:23 a.m. Friday piercing the windshield of a couple’s rented Ford Fusion.
The driver, Thomas Arrington, 69, of Alaska, died moments later after courageously stopping the car.
“As a Massachusetts car accident lawyer, I see these types of accidents all too often,” said attorney William Kickham, who posts online all the risks in play.
“This case is awful. It’s a pity. But sadly, it is far too common,” Kickham added, responding for this editorial. “Recklessness is the key.”
If a driver knows they are putting others at risk, he explained, their liability soars. He agreed this exact scenario occurs every winter when ice and snow flying off cars becomes lethal.
“We all have enough to worry about when driving in this awful winter weather, without having the unnecessary anxiety of never knowing if a flying avalanche will come crashing down and cause yet another Massachusetts car accident,” he added.
There are still so many variables left to consider in the I-95 case. What caused that tool to bounce out of the truck? The State Police accident reconstruction team is sure to be examining that question.
But what if the tool was not properly secured? If so, Thomas Arrington’s family deserves some accountability.
“A long piece of metal came toward our windshield and it hit Tom. He was able to stop the car. It’s amazing. He then died instantly,” wife Sherri Arrington told the Herald last week while seated on a jet at Logan Airport for a solemn flight home to Alaska.
“A police officer told me he saved my life and probably others,” she added. “It’s such a positive thing.”
This teacher who fixed friends’ cars as a favor and who thought of others first, as his family said, cared about his wife and others on the highway as his last act on Earth.
He did what so many others don’t do. He showed empathy in his last moments.
“The last thing he did was save my mom’s life,” Jennifer Hoadley said, calling from Alaska. “He’s a hero.”
The father of two, and grandfather to three, was a shop teacher in San Bernardino, Calif., who was ready to retire at the end of the year, his wife said. They were married for 45 years and planned to live permanently in Palmer, Alaska. He was killed while only an hour into a short vacation.
“He took three weeks’ leave so we could take train rides, see tall ships, look at lighthouses, covered bridges, see Cape Cod and learn all the history,” Sherri said. “We had just landed in Boston.”
She choked back emotion, saying “Tom” was “the best dad in the world” and would “drop anything in a moment” for her or their kids. Now it’s time for justice for this hero husband.