MEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - A Pembroke woman charged in a deadly hit-and-run in Cambridge Thursday that claimed the life of an 80-year-old woman who was pushing a wheeled walker fled the scene because she was going to a job interview, prosecutors said.
Ashley Monturio, 41, of Pembroke, was arraigned Friday in Cambridge District Court on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident causing death in connection with the fatal hit-and-run that occurred about 12:30 p.m. in the area of 150 Erie St.
Officers responding to the driveway of the Cambridge Housing Authority building for a report of a crash involving a pedestrian found Romelia Gallardo, 80 of Cambridge, on the ground, officials said.
Gallardo, who was a resident of the Housing Authority, had been pushing a wheeled walker when she was struck by Monturio, who was behind the wheel of a white Infiniti QX 60 SUV.
Prosecutors say surveillance video shows Monturio running over Gallardo like a “speed bump.”
“The back wheels go up and over again as if it was going up and over a speed bump over Ms. Gallardo’s body,” Assistant District Attorney Maren Schrader said
Monturio got out of her SUV, stood over the victim, called 911 to report that someone may have fallen down, and then took off after telling police she had to go to a job interview, according to Schrader.
“There was a body on the ground. She was standing over the top of it. Shen then walks away from the body,” she said. “Presumably, during this time period, what we know is she called the police.”
Gallardo was transported to Cambridge Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Erie Street is a one-way street but residents say cars often speed down the road in the wrong direction.
Monturio was released on personal recognizance and ordered to stay off the road and to surrender her license.
An investigation is ongoing.
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