Truck fatally strikes man in South Boston
57-year-old was in a wheelchair, State Police say
A 57-year-old man in a wheelchair was fatally struck by a cement truck in South Boston on Tuesday morning, according to State Police.
The agency said the crash occurred around 10:10 a.m. in the area of Frontage Road and Traveler Street.
“The pedestrian, an adult male, suffered fatal injuries,” State Police said.
State Police withheld the name of the victim, a Boston resident, pending notification of his family.
“The 2020 Mack Granite cement truck involved in the crash is owned by Boston Sand and Gravel,” State Police said. “At the time of the crash it was operated by a 53-year-old Medford man. The truck operator was transported by Boston EMS to a Boston hospital with possible minor injuries.”
The Medford man wasn’t named.
“The investigation into the crash by State Police is ongoing,” the agency said. “No charges have been sought as of this time.”
At least a dozen emergency vehicles surrounded the scene at noon. By then police had taped off the section of Traveler Street that runs underneath the highway. Workers loaded a cement truck — Boston Sand & Gravel number 107 — onto a massive tow truck as they prepared to remove it from the scene.
Behind the truck, a wheelchair sat folded on its side next to a pair of shopping bags and a pile of white bedsheets. A trickle of blood pooled in the street. A gray shoe sat in the next lane. Two officers gathered the redspotted sheets into a yellow trash bag, picked up the bags and wheelchair, and placed them in the bed of a MassDOT pickup truck. A third officer came back for the shoe.
Dexin Ma, 19, walked underneath the overpass and stood on the curb around 12:10 p.m., waiting to cross Albany Street.
”Going across this way, it’s all right, but when you go across this way,” Ma said, pointing across Traveler Street. ”You really have to look both ways. Especially since it’s close to the highway, too.”
Ma, a student at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said he crosses through the area every weekday, and that traffic can get busy even outside rush hour.
”Sometimes on my way home, I don’t know how to cross,” Ma said.
The cement truck was towed away just after 12:20 p.m., escorted by two police SUVs and a police pickup truck. Roughly five minutes later, Boston Fire Department crews hosed the street down, as blood remained visible in the crosswalk.
Earlier Tuesday, State Police had posted a message about the crash on X, formerly Twitter.
The man’s death was the city’s second pedestrian fatality since March 24, when a 4-yearold girl was fatally struck by a pickup truck near the Boston Children’s Museum.
Last year, at least 69 pedestrians were killed in vehicle collisions statewide — a fifth of all traffic deaths — according to a report released last week by WalkMassachusetts, an advocacy group that promotes safe walkability. Around a third of those fatal crashes involved victims over 65 and more than half took place in census-designed Environmental Justice blocks.
More than 75 percent of last year’s fatal crashes took place on roads owned by municipalities, while around 19 percent took place on MassDOT roads, according to the study. Boston had eight fatal crashes last year, the most of any city in Massachusetts, followed by Springfield with seven, and Brockton and Pittsfield with three each.