For Immediate Release: 12/3/2022 4:28 pm
On December 3rd 2022 at about 12:15 AM, Worcester Police officers were dispatched to the area of 97 Water St for a report of an assault with a firearm. Officers were informed that two males had been walking on Water St when a Toyota Highlander drove past them and nearly struck them. One of the pedestrians waved his arms to indicate his displeasure. The driver of the vehicle stopped the car, opened the driver’s side door, and pointed a black handgun at the pedestrian who made the gesture. The victim called 911, got into his own vehicle, and followed the Toyota.
Officers were given the description of the Toyota and were told that the vehicle was traveling up Grafton St. The male who followed the vehicle told dispatch that the vehicle had pulled over to the side of the road near the intersection of Grafton and County St.
Officers arrived on Grafton St and observed the Toyota pulled over to the side of the road. They conducted a felony stop, and ordered the driver to turn the vehicle off. The driver complied at first and the officers walked toward the vehicle. When the officers ordered the driver to step out of the vehicle, he turned the vehicle back on and drove Southeast on Grafton St at a high rate of speed. Officers ran back to their cruisers, but had lost sight of the vehicle.
One officer was in the area but had not been out of his vehicle on the felony stop. He drove past the other officers up Grafton St, saw taillights several hundred yards in front of him, and came across a dark truck that had been in a crash in front of 1015 Grafton St. He continued up the road and saw the Toyota in the roadway flipped upside down in front of Roosevelt School.
Several people were trapped in the vehicle. Officers assisted in freeing the seven occupants from the vehicle and rendered medical aid. Paramedics arrived and transported six of the seven occupants to the hospital. One thirty-four-year-old female was pronounced deceased on scene. A second occupant, the thirty-five-year-old male driver of the vehicle, was pronounced deceased at the hospital. In the vehicle, officers located a black airsoft gun designed to resemble a Glock 19 handgun.
The Crash Reconstruction Unit arrived to investigate. The preliminary report indicates that the Toyota was traveling Southeast on Grafton at a high rate of speed. The vehicle struck a curb, lost control, and crossed the double yellow line, striking a Dodge Ram that was traveling in the opposite direction. The Toyota struck a tree, and then flipped. The crash remains under investigation.
