Weston Road Hit-and-Run Victim's Family Seek Civil Suit

There were no indictments, but there may be a civil suit against the truck driver involved in last summer's Weston Road hit-and-run crash.

The grand jury came in yesterday on last August’s fatal crash on Weston Road, and police are closing the case, saying there are no further options to pursue criminal charges against the driver after the grand jury elected not to indict. 

Cyclist Alexander Motsenigos' family, however, is not giving up yet. The Globe reports that his family has filed a wrongful death suit against the driver of the truck. 

In a statement posted on the Swellesley Report yesterday, the Motsenigos family thanked the Wellesley Police Department for their work on the case, and that "if the truck driver had used even basic care in operating the truck that struck Alex down, the accident would have been avoided."

The suit was filed on Jan. 30, and a copy of the complaint is online.

See the full statement on the Swellesley Report.

Police reports named Dana McComb of Wareham, age 51, who was driving the truck which hit Motsenigos on Weston Road. Police and the District Attorney had intended to bring charges of motor vehicle homicide, precautions for the safety of other drivers, and unsafe passing of a bicycle. . 

Reports from the WPD also indicate that McComb had a number of surchargeable offenses on his license over the course of 30 years of driving, and that his license had been suspended 19 times.  

The incident occurred last August, when cyclist Alexander Motsenigos lost his life after being by a passing truck one afternoon this summer, at the intersection of Linden Street and Weston Street. He was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, but sustained life-threatening injuries and was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A memorial was set up at the site during the week following the crash, and passing cyclists and fellow Pan-Mass Challenge riders stopped to pay their respects to Motsenigos. A Ghost Bike memorial was also briefly put in place at the scene. 

A report in  Patch readers voted that intersection one of the most dangerous in Wellesley.