RANDOLPH — Chief William Pace issues the following statement regarding last week’s incident involving a crash between a pedestrian and Randolph Police cruiser.
“As we have previously reported, at approximately 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 25, the Randolph Police and Fire Departments responded to the area of North Main Street and Grove Street for a report of a pedestrian crash involving a police cruiser and a 29-year-old Randolph man.
“The first thing I want to express is my sincere empathy to the victim and his family. I have reached out and have spoken with the victim’s family. As the investigation into this matter is still open and being conducted by an outside agency, I am extremely limited in what I can say at this time.”
“The victim was struck by the cruiser of an officer who was en route to a domestic violence call, with his lights and siren activated. The officer immediately stopped and rendered aid to the pedestrian before the Randolph Fire Department arrived to transport him to a Boston hospital. As is standard procedure during a crash involving a police cruiser, we referred the investigation to an outside agency, the Quincy Police Department. I have placed the officer on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Quincy is performing a reconstruction of the incident and an investigation which will include reviewing Randolph Police Department policies and procedures and determining the speed of the cruiser at the time of the crash.
“At this time, I cannot comment about specific details of the crash investigation, however I would like to address some questions and confusion expressed by members of the community to the media and on social media.
“I am aware that the victim had been involved in a motor vehicle crash earlier that evening. An audio recording has been posted online of an interaction between the victim and a police officer during aftermath of the original crash. This recording is of a different police officer, and there was a disagreement about towing the vehicle from the scene. However, the vehicle could not be safely driven due to the crash, was unregistered and uninsured and the driver was unlicensed, so the vehicle had to be towed by law.
“The officer whose cruiser struck the victim was responding to a domestic incident from the police station. Our preliminary reports indicate that the officer did not know who the person he struck was until he was briefed by other officers later.
“We have absolutely no information at this time to indicate that this was anything other than a deeply unfortunate accident.
“The Randolph Police Department is committed to a thorough finding of fact in this matter. In addition to referring the crash investigation to the Quincy Police Department, our department will retain an independent outside professional to conduct a thorough administrative review of the original crash, the pedestrian crash and all communications and dispatch procedures before, during and after both incidents. We are committed to preventing all manner of crashes and accidents involving pedestrians.
“We will make the results of the investigation public, to the extent that the law allows.”
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