QUINCY, MASS. (WHDH) - A driver has been charged nearly a year after a fatal car crash in Quincy last March.
Nikita Clark was in court on Monday in connection with the crash. Clark, investigators say, was distracted plugging in her phone when she hit Donald Bowes, 58, while he was crossing Newport Ave. in Quincy on March 11, 2022
Bowes was a longtime security supervisor at Fenway Park and a father of four. His wife said he was walking to the train, heading to another one of his many jobs when he was thrown onto the hood of the car.
Bowes was rushed to a hospital where he died a short time later.
“He was my best friend,” Bowes’ wife, Christine told 7NEWS. “I had someone come by his line in the wake and say to me ‘I thought I was his best friend, but I think he was everybody’s best friend’ because that’s how he was. He always wanted to do right by everybody.”
Donald’s brother, Tom, said the crash “could have been avoided.”
“We see it all the time and it’s unfortunate it happened to Donny and he can’t be replaced,” Tom said.
Police said the accused driver, Clark, was speeding, going 45 miles-per-hour in a 30 mile-per-hour zone when she took her eyes off the road.
Clark did not speak with reporters on Monday. But her attorney has pointed out that two street lights along the intersection where the crash happened were not working at the time.
Court paperwork explains the area was so dark, traffic cameras couldn’t even pick up images.
“She has a green light, right?” attorney Virgen Palermo said. “She had a green light and it was dark. The city didn’t have lighting — they said the lighting was being repaired. So, the question is what kind of negligence is there?”
More than a dozen of Bowes’ family and friends showed up at court wearing pins with Bowes’ face and sweatshirts with his name.
They’ve said they want someone held responsible for taking their loved one away from them.
“It’s hard,” Christine Bowes said. “We have kids and they’re missing their dad and I’m missing my husband and they’re missing their uncle and our friend.”
Police said Clark did stay on the scene and has been cooperative. Her next court date is in April. But she won’t be present because she is pregnant and due by then.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)