WALTHAM, Mass. — The distraught families of a Waltham police officer and National Grid worker who were killed Wednesday afternoon in a hit-and-run crash shared emotional words outside of court after the driver accused in their deaths was arraigned on manslaughter charges.
Peter Simon, 54, of Woodsville, New Hampshire pleaded not guilty Thursday in Waltham District Court to a slew of charges including two counts of manslaughter and driving without a license in the deaths of 58-year-old Waltham officer Paul Tracey, a beloved husband and father of two, and a 36-year-old utility worker from Cambridge, Roderick Jackson.
Tracey was working a detail at a National Grid worksite on Totten Pond Road where Jackson was working when Simon drove his pickup truck into them, abandoned the banged-up vehicle, and continued to steal a police cruiser at knifepoint before he was later taken into custody on Winter Street, prosecutors alleged in court.
Jim Tracey thanked the Waltham community for the outpouring of love in the wake of his brother’s death.
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“We just want to thank the Waltham community for the tremendous outpouring for our brother Paul,” Jim said. “He was a tremendous husband, father, uncle, and brother, and loved by everybody in the community. Anybody who knew him, his laughter, his compassion. He will be missed.”
Norma Asprilla, the mother of Jackson, expressed great devastation as she begins the process of mourning her son’s death.
“We can never replace him. Behind bars, he [Simon] has life. I don’t have my son. He took our treasure chest. Unforgivable, unforgivable, unforgivable,” Asprilla said.
Manuel Asprilla-Hassan, Jackson’s brother, called his sibling the “heart of the family.”
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“I’ll tell you right now he was a legend. He was the heart of this family, of this entire family. That’s who he was,” Asprilla-Hassan said. “Anybody who knows him, the most selfless man ever, ever. The most selfless man. He was more than just my brother, he was my father. That’s the heart of this family, that’s what was taken from us.”
Boston 25 learned that Simon was previously sentenced in 2011 to five years in a psychiatric unit in the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord.
Two other National Grid workers were hospitalized with injuries suffered in the crash. They have since been released.
Simon, who was ordered held without bail, is due back in court for a dangerousness hearing on Dec. 14.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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