Driver indicted on murder charges in crash that killed Waltham police officer, National Grid worker
The driver in a crash that killed a Waltham police officer and a utility worker this past December has been indicted on murder charges by a Middlesex County grand judge, authorities said Wednesday.
Peter Simon, 54 of Woodsville, New Hampshire was indicted on two counts of second-degree murder and a slew of other charges after allegedly fatally striking Waltham Police Officer Paul Tracey, 58, and National Grid employee Roderick Jackson, 36 of Cambridge on December 6, the Middlesex District Attorney’s office announced Wednesday.
Authorities said Simon was driving a pickup truck east on Totten Pond Road around 4 p.m. when he pulled to the side of the road and suddenly turned back into the roadway in an attempt to execute a U-turn. He then allegedly struck a vehicle traveling east, continued driving forward for about a quarter mile, and hit Tracey and Jackson.
Simon then allegedly struck multiple other vehicles and abandoned his banged-up truck after striking Tracey and Roderick Jackson.
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Prosecutors said that Simon then pulled a knife on another officer before stealing his police cruiser, veering it in the direction of other officers, before taking off again.
Simon eventually crashed the cruiser on Winter Street, where he was apprehended by police following a brief foot chase.
Boston 25 also learned that Simon was previously charged in connection with a wreckless conduct case in New Hampshire stemming from an incident in Aug. 2009, in which he was found not guilty because of insanity and sentenced in 2011 to five years in a psychiatric unit in the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord.
Simon, a former Brattleboro, Vermont, resident, had been charged with several felonies after he fled from police in his vehicle and hit a public transportation bus head-on in Keene, New Hampshire, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.
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At the time, Cheshire County Attorney Peter Heed said Simon suffered from a disassociative disorder and a history of panic attacks.
The full list of charges Simon has been indicted for include two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of motor vehicle homicide, armed robbery, armed carjacking, three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, larceny of a motor vehicle, four counts of operating to endanger, three counts of leaving the scene causing property damage, leaving the scene causing death, failure to stop for police, two counts of wanton destruction of property and resisting arrest.
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Simon was arraigned on manslaughter charges in December.
Simon is currently being held without bail and will be arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court at a later date.
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