WALTHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - A local driver shared her story Thursday after she said her car was hit in a multi-car hit-and-run crash that left a police officer and a utility worker dead and several others hurt Wednesday afternoon. 

First responders descended on Totten Pond Road after authorities said 54-year-old Peter Simon allegedly crashed his pickup truck into multiple cars and a National Grid worksite. Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said Simon next stole a police cruiser and led police on a chase before being taken into custody. 

Ryan on Wednesday identified one of the people killed as Waltham police officer Paul Tracey. The second person killed was later identified as National Grid worker Roderick Jackson. 

While an investigation continued Thursday, Mariccor Pawar shared her experience of the incident, saying she initially blacked out when her car was hit.

“Then, I woke up and then I heard screaming ‘Call 911! Call 911!” she said.

Pawar said she saw an ambulance arrive and witnessed emergency crews performing CPR on victims. 

Still too shaken up to appear on camera, Pawar said she had been driving home from the grocery store when she first passed the ongoing utility work on Totten Pond Road. 

Pawar said she waved to officer Tracey at the time. 

Moments later, Pawar said she felt the crash.

“The initial impact, I know, was from the back,” she said. “But, because the airbags blew, it felt like it fell on me.”

Pawar was sent to the hospital for whiplash and was suffering from a headache and pain through her neck, back and stomach as of Thursday night.

 She said she recognizes, though, that two lives were taken in the same instant that her life was spared.

“It’s just a horrific, horrific accident,” Pawar said. 

“You have minor accidents,” she continued. “But to know that two lives were lost in this accident is just horrible. And it makes you wonder, ‘Could you have done better?’”

It is that latter thought that Pawar said kept her awake through Thursday night as she knows she is among the last people to see officer Tracey alive. 

“Knowing he’s no longer with us, it’s just very sad,” she said. “My heart goes to his family, his friends, especially his kids and wife. It’s just tragic, tragic.”

Tributes poured in from across the region Thursday as many mourned the loss of Tracey and Jackson. 

Hours before a police procession escorted Tracey’s body to a local funeral home, Simon was arraigned on multiple charges linked to this incident. He was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing. 

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