KEENE, N.H. (WHDH) - The New Hampshire man accused in connection with the crash that killed a Waltham police officer and a National Grid worker on Wednesday previously faced serious charges in New Hampshire, court documents show.
Peter Simon, 54, was arrested Wednesday after officials said he allegedly struck officer Paul Tracey and utility worker Roderick Jackson with his pickup truck near 4 p.m. on Totten Pond Road in Waltham.
Tracey and Jackson later died. Officials said two other National Grid workers who had been working along Totten Pond Road were also injured.
In addition to Tracey, Jackson and the two other National Grid workers, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said Simon also crashed into multiple vehicles and stole a police cruiser at knifepoint before officers took him into custody.
While Simon appeared in court in Waltham on Thursday, separate documents accessed at the Cheshire County Courthouse in Keene, New Hampshire detailed an incident back in August of 2009 when Simon crashed his black pickup truck into a bus.
A passenger in the bus suffered “serious facial injuries,” according to documents.
Simon, in turn, led police on a chase and allegedly tried to steal a woman’s car while she was in it before he was taken into custody, documents said.
Documents said Simon was high on amphetamines at the time of the 2009 incident.
Simon was charged with two counts of reckless conduct, disorderly conduct and disobeying an officer. He was subsequently found not guilty by reason of insanity, though, and was sentenced to spend five years in New Hampshire Hospital in Concord, New Hampshire.
Documents reviewed by 7NEWS said Simon had a history of paranoid thoughts, psychotic breaks and substance abuse.
By 2013, however, documents showed doctors treating Simon at the time said he was showing improvement. Simon was subsequently transferred to transitional housing.
In trouble with the law again, this time in Massachusetts, Simon had no comment when asked while being brought out of Waltham District Court Thursday.
A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf during prior court proceedings and he was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing.
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