B2 Metro The Boston Globe FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019
ByHannaKrueger, Travis Andersen,
andJordanFrias
GLOBE STAFF AND GLOBECORRESPONDENT
QUINCY — As an auto mechanic, Craig Croteau
is used to loud sounds. But even he was surprised
by the boom he heard late Wednesday morning
when a dump truck fell through the roof of a two-
story parking garage next to his Mobil gas station.
About50 vehicles remain trapped in the partial-
ly collapsed garage, according to police.
“I turnedthe corner and saw the nose of a truck
peeking out of the roof and a guy climbing out,”
Croteau said. “He told me he’d just wanted to turn
around.”
The driver, whose name has not been released, was shaken up by his
tumble and perhaps a little embarrassed, but no one was injured. He asked
for a cigarette, which Croteaupromptly provided, he said with a laugh.
Police said the driver was followingGPS directions whenhe turned into
a parking area near the intersection of Furnace Brook Parkway and Cope-
land Street in Quincy, thinking it was a through way.
“It appears that [the truck driver] was using GPS and came off the exit
of a no-truck route because he was followinghis GPS and he was trying to
turn around,” said Quincy police Sergeant Karyn Barkas,a department
spokeswoman.
As the driver was attempting to turn around, a seamin the roof of the
parking garage gave way underthe weight of the truck, which was full of
gravel. The rear of the vehicle fell downward toward the floor below, while
the front remained on the top level.
The truck was removed fromthe garage around 4 a.m. Thursday, Barkas
said.
Police evacuated two buildings attachedto the garage — one four-story
and one three-story — that are home to a numberof medical offices.The
buildings reopened around noonThursday, but about50 cars — 10 or so onthe top floor of the garage and 40 on the bottom
floor — remained inaccessible because of debris.
The gravel fromthe truck had been removed and
sat in a heapnear fallen chunksof broken cement
and bent reinforcement rods near the center of the
garage. Onlya luckless red sedan appeared to be
damaged by the fallen debris.
A crew from the Quincy Inspectional Services
Department rolled other vehicles away from the
scene by placing dollies under the wheels. The de-
partment will evaluate the extent of the damage
and review what repairs need to be made before the
garage is cleared for use, code enforcementofficer
Ken Burke said.
John Whitney, who manages the property for Baystate Property Man-
agement, said a crane was used to remove the truck before sunriseThurs-
day.
Because of the low ceilings on the bottom level, the truck could not be
extracted from below.
Whitney said the truck belongs to G & G fuel company of Brockton.
A therapist who was with a client at the time of the crash arrived Thurs-
day morning to grab a few itemsfrom her trappedsedan, whichwas
parked a few yards fromthe collapsed deck. The woman, who declined to
give her name, and other employeesdescribed feeling the ground shake be-
fore looking outside to see the falling truck. She shook her headas she
pointed out the rusty buttresses in the garage.
Whitney said he hopes the trapped cars will be reunited with their own-
ers by this weekend but could not promise anything until the damage was
fully assessed. Barkas said the company is building a temporary wall.Globe correspondentMariaLovatocontributedto this report. Travis
Andersencanbe reached at [email protected]. Followhimon
Twitter @TAGlobe. Jordan Friascanbe reached at [email protected].Cleanup starts after truck fallsPHOTOSBY PAT GREENHOUSE/GLOBE STAFF
The day aftera dumptruckfellthroughtheroofof a parkinggaragein Quincy, workersmovedcarsto start cleanupandrepairs.AROUNDTHEREGIONCHICOPEEDecorated soldier killedin AfghanistanA 31-year-old decorated special forces soldier
from Chicopee was killed in combat in Afghani-
stan this week, the US Army announced Thurs-
day. Master Sergeant Luis F. Deleon-Figueroa
was one of two soldiers assigned to the Seventh
Special Forces Group (Airborne) who were killed
during combat operations in the Faryab Province
on Wednesday, authorities said. Deleon-Figueroa
had served more than 13 years in the Army, de-
ploying six times. According to the Army, he de-
ployed as an infantryman to Iraq in 2008and to
Afghanistan in 2010. As a Green Beret, he de-
ployed to South America in 2015 and 2018, and
to Afghanistan again in 2018and 2019.In a
statement, an Army spokesman referred to Dele-
on-Figueroa as “a native of Chicopee, Mass.” Dur-
ing his career, Deleon-Figueroa had served as a
special forces communications sergeant and a
special operations and intelligence sergeant, and
was posthumously promoted to master sergeant,authorities said. Deleon-Figueroa’s posthumous
awards included the Bronze Star Medal and Pur-
ple Heart Medal, and he earned more than 15
otherawards and decorations during his career,
according to the Army.BOSTONInterimMerit RatingBoard headnamedTwo days after the head of the Merit Rating
Board at the Registry of Motor Vehicles was
fired, the panel has a new temporary leader.
Paolo Franzese was appointed interim director of
the Merit Rating Board, the state Department of
Transportation announced Thursday. He will
serve while the registry searches for a permanent
director. Franzese will take a leave from his posi-
tion as the manager of market conduct for the
state Division of Insurance, the statement said.
He replaces Thomas Bowes, who was fired Tues-
day by the three-member board after he admit-
ted knowing that the board stopped processingthousands of driver violation notices fromother
states concerning Massachusetts drivers.BOSTONEEE virus riskpromptsnew mosquito sprayingWith 37 Massachusetts communities at a high or
critical risk of Eastern equineencephalitis, state
public health officials have announced new
rounds of mosquito spraying. A second round of
aerial spraying started Wednesday night in
Southeastern Massachusetts, where a man tested
positive for the EEE virus earlier this month,
state officials said. Spraying is also set to start on
Sunday in parts of Middlesex and Worcester
counties, the state Department of Public Health
said in a press release. Spraying will be conduct-
ed in Ashland, Berlin, Framingham, Hopkinton,
Marlborough, Milford, Millbury, Northbridge,
Northborough, Shrewsbury, Sudbury, Sutton,
Worcester, Upton, Grafton, Southborough, and
Westborough.POLICEBLOTTERRDRIVERSKILLEDTwo drivers werekilled Thurs-
day in Longmeadow, where a pickup truck
crashed into a US Postal Service truck, following
a police chase that started in Enfield, Conn., au-
thorities said. David Cersosimo, 47, of Rocky
Hill, Conn., was being pursued by Enfield police
on US Route5 around 11 a.m., the Hampden
district attorney’s office said in a statement
Thursday night. He failed to stop for police on
Route 5 and sideswiped a vehicle before crossing
the state line into Longmeadow. Cersosimo
crashed his truck into a postal vehicle driven by
Daniel Nacin, 59, of Enfield, the statement said.
The drivers were taken to Baystate Medical Cen-
ter, where they werepronounced dead, accord-
ing to the statement. Enfield resident Jim Webb
saw the pickup speeding and described the im-
pact as an explosion, according to the Associated
Press. The crash is under investigation.RBOATACCIDENTA man was struck and injured
by his own boat after falling overboard in New-
ton, N.H., early Thursday morning, police said.
At 2:33 a.m., New Hampshire State Police re-
sponded to Country Pond in Newtonafter re-
ports of a person screaming for help. Troopers
found Steven Lacroix, 29, of Sandown, N.H.,
standing in about 2 feet of water, New Hamp-
shireState Police said in a statement. Lacroix
had fallen off his 1981 Riviera pontoon, of which
he was the sole occupant, while working on the
boat’s motor. The boat continued moving and hit
Lacroix, who sustained injuries caused by the
propeller and the boat hitting his body, police
said. By the time police arrived, Lacroix had al-
ready swum to shore and the motor on his boat
had shut off. Lacroix was taken to Anna Jaques
Hospital in Newburyport, Mass., with injuries
that were not life-threatening, police said.RTROOPER HURTA Massachusetts State Police
trooper was injured near a Mass. Pike entrance
in Boston Thursday afternoon, police said. The
crash happened on Haul Roadnear the Mass.
Pike eastbound entrance, State Police said in a
tweet. “Trooper transported to area hospital by
Boston EMS,” the tweet said. Police said they are
investigatingthe incident.RTRAINFATALITYPassengers on the Newbury-
port/Rockport lines of the MBTA commuter rail
faced significant delays Thursday morning after
a person was struck and killed by a train in
Gloucester, officials said. Transit Police officers
received the radio call at approximately 6:
a.m., and Gloucester firefighters and EMSalso
responded to the scene. Transit Police said the
incident is under investigation. Authorities said
foul play is not suspected.GETSMARTByCorey Dockser
GLOBECORRESPONDENT
A symposiumwas held at Suffolk Universi-
ty this month to address the myriad health
and safety hazards for the nation’s correction
officers, who watch over inmates in state and
federal prisons and ensure their smooth entry
into society upon release.To highlight the
problems and strategies to alleviate them,
Metro Minute spoke with one of the sympo-
sium’s organizers, Mazen El Ghaziri (above),
an assistant professor at the University of
Massachusetts Lowell’s Solomont School of
Nursing. (C ommentscondensed for brevity.)
What types of challengesdocorrection
officers face?
It is a demanding job in which the officer
really has no control in terms of scheduling,
the number of incarcerated people they have
to attend to, and the work environment itself.
And this is affected by the criminal justice sys-
tem in the United States with overincarcera-
tion and the staffing shortages, which relate
to budget cuts.
It’s a risky job given that you are dealing
with inmate assaults; they have a four-times
higher rate of getting off the job due to nonfa-
tal injuries, whether it’s due to physical as-
saults or other injuries.
I’ll also mention having to be always on
alert. Given the nature of the population they
are working with, the hypervigilance is really
high and becomes second nature. And within
thisworkforceyoualwaysneedtobesurethat
you are tough — this machismo that domi-
nates the job spills over to your life, as well.
And to be always on alert — it affects your
physical and mental well-being. So this is a
population that has high rates of post-trau-
matic stress disorder and in the last few years
we’ve seen increases in suicides, as well.
The life span of a correctional officer is al-
most more than 10 years shorter than the av-
erage life span of the national population.
Many correctional officers don’t eat healthy,
and throughour research we’ve seen within
three years on the job they get to be obese,
they get to be more into the hypertensive
state, and you can see this affecting sleep pat-
terns.
One final thing that isn’t talked about is
that [correctional officers are] underappreci-
ated compared to police officers or firefighters
or even EMS, given that they work behind
prison walls and they are unseen by the pub-
lic. So theirjob is thankless, underappreciat-
ed, and stigmatized by society to start with.
What sort of solutionswould you propose
to improvethe lives of correctionofficers?
There’s no one solution. One thing we
should do is look closely at the form of the
criminal justice system and restorative justice
[an alternative approach to enforcement that
focuses on mediation]. Because working on
one side, on the workforce alone, does not
solve the problem.
We also need to look at the resources made
available for this workforce like peer mentor-
ing or training on the job or resources for
mental health and physical health. And they
needto be able to trust these resources.
One final thing is the importance of having
the voice of the correctional officer being part
of the solution. You cannot find just one solu-
tion for every officer; they need to be able to
have a voice in what solution worksbest for
them.And general health promotionand oc-
cupational health and safety into the work-
placeare interrelated. So you cannot think
about safety separately from health promo-
tion. We need to think about their physical
health and their mental health.
Corey Docksercan be reached at
[email protected].
Challenges facing
correction officers
MAZEN EL GHAZIRIThe amountthe Coast Guard hasseparately fined
twoteenagers for leapingoffferries intoNewEng-
landwatersearlierthissummer. Onewas accused
ofjumping over therailingsoftheIslandQueen,
which runsbetweenFalmouth andMartha’s Vine-
yard, andtheotherfromtheAnnaC inBlockIsland,
R.I. Intentionallyjumpingoffa passenger ferryis
considereda violationunderfederal boatinglaws,
andcarries a penaltyofupto$35,000,theCoast
Guard said.
BYTHE NUMBERS$2,
TheMetroMinuteThe holeleft onthegarage’s second
floorafterthetruckfellthrough.