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Tow truck dislodged from Roxbury building as crash is probed

Print | Comments () Posted by Martin Finucane November 30, 2010 06:18 PM

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Bill Brett for The Boston Globe

Boston Police Sergeant Chris Bailey checked out the Transportation Department tow truck that collided with several cars and crashed into a building on St. James Street in Roxbury.

By Akilah Johnson and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A tow truck that crashed into a building on St. James Street in Roxbury on Monday night was removed this afternoon, as workers shored up the building.

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The Boston Transportation Department truck crashed into the building at 61 St. James just before 6 p.m. Monday, said Officer James Kenneally, a Boston police spokesman.

Transportation Commissioner Thomas Tinlin said six families have been displaced from the building.

Tinlin said that the driver of the truck had been placed on paid administrative leave. He said the driver had submitted to alcohol and drug testing and was fully cooperating with an internal investigation into the crash.

Police are also investigating the crash, Kenneally said.

The driver told police his brakes had failed. Witnesses told police the truck was not speeding at the time of the accident, Kenneally said. No citations have been issued so far in the case, he said.

Tinlin said there was nothing to indicate there were any maintenance issues with the truck. He also said the driver, when hired, had nothing on his record to indicate he was a bad driver.

He would not discuss when the driver was hired or if the driver had had any infractions since he was hired.

"We don't want to start using words like 'blame' and who's 'at fault' until the outcome of the investigation is completed," he said.

The truck could be seen this morning with its nose up to its windshield in a ground-floor apartment. The building is at the middle of a steep hill and neighbors said drivers use the street as a shortcut.

The crash displaced about 17 residents who are now staying at a nearby hotel paid for by their landlord, Ian Cotterell.

Residents said they felt the building shake and ran to the windows to see smoke, debris and smashed cars in the street. Rescue workers arrived and forced them to evacuate the building through a first-floor window with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Many of the families have called the building, which the city said is now condemned, home for more than a decade.

Krystal Lipomi, 22, a seven-month resident, said she grabbed formula and diapers for her 6-month-old baby, a coat for her 3-year-old, and her wallet. Everything else is in their apartment.

“My daughter, every hour, keeps saying, ‘I want to go home. I want to go home,’” Lipomi said from the hotel lobby. “Right now, we’re waiting.”