Drivers Killed Two Victims This Weekend, In Boston and Webster
Drivers ended the lives of two victims in separate crashes in Boston and Webster over the weekend.
In the central Massachusetts town of Webster, police responded at 12:49 p.m. to a crash on School Street. First responders took the victim, 10-year-old Marleigh Guevara, to UMass Medical Center, where she ultimately died of her injuries.
Guevara was a fourth grader at Park Avenue Elementary School in Webster. In a GoFundMe set up to pay for her funeral expenses, her family describes her as “deeply connected to her sisters” and someone who loved “dancing around the house, roller skating with her sisters, and spending hours drawing.”
School Street is a relatively narrow two-lane street with sidewalks in a densely-populated residential neighborhood of single-family homes and small apartment buildings.
On Monday afternoon, Webster Police identified the suspected perpetrator of the crash as Sherry Mae Plitouke, 35, from Southbridge.
On April 6, police in the neighboring town of Dudley arrested someone with the same name, age, and town of residence after they were allegedly found stopped in the middle of the road and asleep behind the wheel.
In that incident, Dudley police charged that Sherry Plitouke with operating under the influence and released her under her personal recognizance.
Laura French, a spokesperson for the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office, acknowledged that someone with the same name has an open case in Dudley District Court, but would not confirm if it is the same person.
So far, police and prosecutors have not indicated that they have made any arrests related to Marleigh Guevara’s killing.
Citing the ongoing investigation, French also declined to tell StreetsblogMASS whether police had taken any steps to prevent the suspect from get back behind the wheel of a car.
But French did assert that “there is no ongoing public safety concern related to this incident.”
Guevara’s family is planning a candlelight vigil Monday evening at 7 p.m. at 535 School Street.
In Boston, another killing at Mass & Cass
Just after 1 a.m. Saturday morning, Boston Police officers responded to another crash at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard – the deadliest intersection in Boston.
Boston Police had few details to offer on Monday other than to say that the crash remains under active investigation.
The suspect in the crash fled from the scene, and the victim (still unidentified at this time) was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Since 2020, drivers have now killed at least four victims at the intersection of Mass. Ave. and Melnea Cass Blvd., where high-speed traffic from Interstate 93 pours into a wide, multi-lane intersection next to a busy hospital campus.
There have been an additional three killings in the adjacent intersection of Mass. Ave. and Albany Street, and two more in the intersection of Mass. Ave. and Harrison Street, according to the state’s official crash database.
For nearly a decade, Boston’s Vision Zero planners have identified this part of Massachusetts Avenue as a high-risk location for violent crashes, with particular risk for pedestrians in the vicinity of Boston Medical Center.
Nevertheless, the intersection and the chaotic roadways that connect to it remain largely unchanged.
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