Watch WBZ-TV Video
In an unusual about-face, top state police brass have reversed the written findings of a lieutenant and disciplined a motorcycle trooper after reviewing video of a Patriots Day crash involving the trooper and a female Boston Marathon spectator.
After an internal review, a major and two colonels disagreed with the lieutenant's initial conclusion that the injured spectator, Norma Shulman, 61, of Framingham, was fully at fault for the April 16 accident.
Video of the collision from WBZ-TV (Ch. 4) depicts Shulman being knocked to the ground by a motorcycle driven by Sgt. Dennis M. Bertulli as he escorted lead women runners in the marathaon on Route 135 in Natick. The video is posted on YouTube.com under the heading "Spectator Hit by Motorcycle."
Although Shulman was standing inside a white line along the curb, Bertulli's supervisor, Lt. William Cederquist, filed a formal report indicating Shulman had "entered the road" before being struck. Yesterday, Lt. William Powers said Shulman and Bertulli are equally to blame based on a final review by Maj. Michael Concannon.
"It was his determination the officer operating the motorcycle was partially at fault because he failed to operate the motorcycle in a safe and cautious manner," Powers said. Shulman, who is facing $1,100 in medical bills, said she was grateful there was a TV video.
"I'm just really disappointed," Shulman said of her experience with police. "I expected better."
Republished with permission of The Boston Herald.
