Update 3:30 p.m.: Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin R. Hayden told reporters that preliminary findings suggest the crash was an accident. “We don’t have any reason to believe that this was an intentional act,” he said.
Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox updated the number of people injured to four. One person is in critical condition and three others are stable at area hospitals. Two people at the scene refused treatment. The truck's driver, initially reported to be in critical condition, is now stable.
Original story:
The driver of a box truck crashed into pedestrians on a busy Boston street on Tuesday. Five people have reportedly been taken to the hospital. Two people, including the driver, are reported to be in critical condition. Update:
First responders are on the scene, sorting through the crash on Kneeland Street in Chinatown.
BREAKING >>> Truck strikes multiple pedestrians in downtown Boston - Harrison and Kneeland St - @scooperon7 and @KimberlyBookman are on scene - latest on @7News pic.twitter.com/y4NaQc6shy
— Scott MacEachern (@smaceachern7) April 1, 2025
Police say it's not yet clear whether this was an accident or an intentional act of terrorism.
The truck was wedged between a pole and the building, which suggests it may have been traveling at a high rate of speed. Witnesses say the vehicle hit several light poles before crashing into the pedestrians.
The driver had to be extricated from the vehicle's cab before being taken to the hospital.
Companies responded to Kneeland & HarrisonAve for a truck that struck multiple poles and was wedged between a pole and the building . Firefighters used extrication tools to removed the trapped driver from the cab of truck . pic.twitter.com/VgqMPBkFrI
— Boston Fire Dept. (@BostonFire) April 1, 2025
Former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told Fox News's Sandra Smith the accident occurred in a very highly trafficked and congested area.
"It's a tragic situation to see that truck on its side like that, assuming it rolled over on pedestrians, and it does appear as though two people transported from the scene are in critical condition," he said.
He suggested that driver inexperience may have played a role in the crash. "This, Penske, is a rental, mostly a rental truck company, so it brings up the question as to how much experience the driver had, and whether there were mechanical issues that caused this to happen, or some other type of problem that the driver had."
Former Boston PD Commissioner, @EdDavis3 joins @SandraSmithFox to discuss the latest on a truck hitting multiple pedestrians in Boston.#AmericaReports pic.twitter.com/fGgtG6lAYG
— America Reports (@AmericaRpts) April 1, 2025
As the crash investigation unfolds, police will look at the area's cameras.
"Tufts Hospital has a large number of cameras, and a lot of the businesses down there have cameras out in front," Davis noted. "There's also traffic cameras on that road. So I think we'll get a really good look at what happened if they hit, you know, telephone poles and traffic control signals, it's kind of an indication that they weren't, they weren't targeting or aiming for pedestrians. It sounds like there might be some other explanation for it, which is the big question in a situation like this in the downtown area."
He explained that investigators will take measurements and photographs at the scene, and "it's also common practice nowadays to use drones that have special traffic accident or traffic crash software that can document every piece of evidence there for later review."
"Traffic reconstruction is a heavily sort of mathematics-laden responsibility of the investigators, and it takes time to work out skid marks and the amount of speed that the truck was operating in, and then absolutely they will be looking at onboard computer systems on vehicles to see."
This is a developing story.
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