BROCKTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Friends and family members came together Wednesday night to remember a mother of two who was struck and killed in a hit-and-run while walking her dog in Brockton.
Michelle Maxwell’s loved ones were consumed by grief as they gathered at the spot where the 55-year-old was struck.
“She loved us with everything. She was one of the most virtuous women I ever known in my whole life. I knew her my whole life,” one mourner said.
Emergency crews responding to a reported pedestrian crash near 634 Centre St. shortly before 9 p.m. transported Maxwell just yards to Brockton Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to Brockton police.
“Shocking, very shocking. That somebody can do what they do every night and then, the next moment, they’re gone,” said Maxwell’s husband, the Rev. Robert Maxwell.
He said he rushed to be at his wife’s side after police showed up at his house late that night.
“They called me, told me to go to the hospital. The officers were at my door and they told me, ‘go over there now,” he said. “When we got to the hospital, they put us in the family room and then two nurses came out and said, ‘I’m sorry, she didn’t make it.”
Maxwell said, “this is not over.”
He sat in court Wednesday as Allen Perkins, 57, hid behind a wall and pleaded not guilty to several charges.
Prosecutors said Perkins drove home, researched his own crash on the internet, moved his damaged Chevy Tahoe to a CVS parking lot, and used duct tape to cover up a broken front light before turning himself over to police hours later.
He was ordered released on a GPS monitoring bracelet Wednesday following his arraignment in Brockton District Court on charges including leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death.
Now, Maxwell is left wrestling with the grief of losing the love of his life.
“She was a woman of God, a woman of faith — and a true woman of faith,” he said. “So I am sure she is in heaven now and one day we will meet again.”
Perkins is due back in court next month.
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