The Globe reports that Dan Conley will not charge a Boston Police Officer, whose speeding cruiser struck and killed a South Boston woman last year, with negligent operation or manslaughter or anything. Nobody wants to see another family destroyed because of a car accident. However, the woman who was killed was completely innocent of any negligence or wrongdoing, and something like this could very easily happen to any one of us. I have a few questions about the final disposition of the case:
1. The Globe reported that Dan Conley said there were conflicting eyewitness accounts of what color the traffic light was (whether this even matters is a separate issue- the fact that Conley himself brought it up got me thinking about it). However, in his letter to the BPD, Conley only mentions two accounts of the “color of the light”: the first, that of a presumably disinterested (barring some sort of irrational ‘cop hatred’ or similar dark vendetta) observer who happened to be driving right in front of McNally on D Street; the second, the account of the officer himself. One of these people clearly has a motivation to lie- the other (again, presumably) does not. Is it possible that these are the only eyewitness accounts to this crash, which occurred at around 1:30 in the afternoon on a weekday?
2. Were there no cameras trained on, or otherwise in the immediate vicinity of, the intersection of D Street and West Broadway? Conley’s letter does not mention any. As far as I know, this is a busy intersection, and I have lately noticed traffic surveillance cameras at a couple of intersections near where I live in Hyde Park (one is at Hyde Park Ave and Cummins Highway, for example). It is my understanding that a company called “SmartTraveller” has a number of cameras in operation throughout the Boston area- are there no such cameras at this intersection?
3. Is Dan Conley the appropriate person to handle an investigation of an innocent civilan fatality brought about though the activities of a police officer? Isn’t it possible that, given Conley’s constant professional and perhaps social interaction with members of the Boston Police Department, a more inhnerently objective authority should be deferred to in these cases?
4. Would the public be informed if a sizable settlement was paid to the family of the victim in lieu of their pursuing a civil suit against the City? I ask this because it could theoretically impact the extent to which the true facts of the case are discovered, and could even impact the degree to which measures are undertaken to prevent this kind of accident from occurring in the future.
Conley’s letter was posted on Boston.com earlier, but at last glance I couldn’t find it.