Driver Kills 7-Year-Old Victim in Williamstown Crash
A driver struck and killed a 7-year-old victim on Main Street near the village center of Williamstown last Friday afternoon.
In a press release, the Berkshire County District Attorney’s office reported that the homicide occurred near the intersection of Williamstown’s Main Street and Buxton Hill Road, less than a quarter-mile from the Williams College campus and the town library.
The District Attorney’s office alleges that the suspected perpetrator was driving east on Main Street, towards the town center, while the victim was traveling on a bicycle down Buxton Hill Road toward Main Street.
The District Attorney’s office did not respond to inquiries about the identification of the suspect, the victim, or whether the suspect is facing any charges for the homicide.
StreetsblogMASS also reached out to the Massachusetts State Police, which is handling the crash investigation, for additional details, but that agency declined to provide any additional information and referred questions to the District Attorney’s office.
Williamstown is a rural town in the northwestern corner of Massachusetts, and the home to Williams College, whose campus lines both sides of Main Street through the center of the town.
Much of Main Street in Williamstown is also part of Massachusetts State Route 2, the main east-west highway through northwestern Massachusetts.
But west of Fields Park, at the edge of the Williams College campus, Route 2 diverges to the southwest, and Main Street continues as a lower-traffic street through a quiet residential neighborhood.
There are no sidewalks on that part of Main Street, and it was on that segment where Friday’s killing occurred.
According to MassDOT’s IMPACT crash database, Williamstown has recorded dozens of injury-causing crashes on its Main Street in the past decade, including two fatal crashes east of the town center in 2021 and 2025.
But most of those crashes occurred on the busier state highway; until Friday’s homicide, only two injury-causing crashes had been recorded on the quieter segment of Main Street west of Route 2.
Two weeks ago, Williamstown officials updated the town’s Select Board on a $500,000 state grant the town had received to design safety improvements for the Route 2 segment of Main Street through the Williams College campus.
“Our project goals, in addition to the increased pedestrian and bicycle accommodations, is just, in general, improving the sightlines and improving the intersection geometry,” a project consultant told the Select Board.
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