Thursday, 4:30 PM
Milton detective, Nashua man killed in head-on crash
By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff
A Milton police detective was killed along with a second driver Monday in a horrific head-on collision on Route 1 that also seriously injured a Milton Police Department secretary, closed part of the Tobin Bridge, and snarled rush-hour traffic for hours.
Michael Devin, 57, a Milton High School graduate, a former US Marine, and a member of the Milton police force for more than three decades, was killed when a Toyota Camry traveling in the wrong direction collided with his Honda Accord shortly before 4:15 p.m. near the Chelsea end of the Tobin Bridge, officials and relatives said.
Police said the Toyota, driven by Stephen M. Parnell, 50, of Nashua, had been traveling southbound on Route 1 when it crashed into another vehicle a short distance before the Tobin Bridge tollbooths.
For unknown reasons, the Toyota reversed direction and was traveling north in the southbound lanes of Route 1 when it struck Devin’s Honda just south of Fifth Street in Chelsea, police said.
Both Devin and Parnell were pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Deputy Chief Richard Wells of the Milton police said Devin was "a veteran detective, highly respected in Norfolk County" who had "worked on many high-profile cases and had a really stellar career."
The passenger in Devin’s vehicle, Ann Condon, 50, a mother of three from Milton and a Police Department civilian employee, was reported in serious condition Monday night with several bone fractures at Mass. General, according to police, relatives, and hospital officials.
Her son said in a telephone interview Monday night that she was "all right" and had suffered a broken rib and finger.
Her sister, Kathy Burkly, said in a telephone interview from her home in Tennessee that, "It’s a miracle that she lived."
Both Condon and Devin were off-duty at the time of the collision, authorities said.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation Monday night, police said.
