Thursday, 4:30 PM
Coakley again extends deadline in Big Dig criminal probe
(Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe)
By Globe Staff
For the second time in less than a month, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced today that her office was extending the deadline to complete the criminal probe of last July's fatal ceiling collapse in the Big Dig, saying investigators needed "a short amount of additional time."
The statement issued by Coakley's office this afternoon did not specify how much more time was needed. The most recent deadline had been mid-July.
"In light of the National Transportation Safety Board's report earlier this week, and the complexity of the issues involved with the Central Artery Tunnel collapse, as well as the number of state and federal agencies, and the number of private entities and individuals involved," Coakley said in the statement, "we believe that it is appropriate to take a short amount of additional time to reach the conclusions that we must reach in this investigation."
The original deadline had been June 30, but four days before the end of the month Coakley's office issued a statement saying it needed another two weeks. That deadline would have passed Sunday.
The collapse last July 10 killed Milena Del Valle, 38, who was in a car heading to Logan International Airport when she was crushed by concrete ceiling panels.
"We remain committed to a resolution that will be fair and just for the Commonwealth and the victims," Coakley said in today’s statement. "We continue to work diligently in order to make the necessary decisions and we will be transparent about our conclusions when we are finished."
