Everything we know about Massachusetts Apple store crash
The driver, Bradley Rein, is being held on a $100,000 cash bail for charges of reckless homicide with a motor vehicle
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Your support makes all the difference.A car has crashed into an Apple store in the Boston suburb of Hingham, leading to the death of one person while at least 19 have been injured.
The driver of the SUV that plowed into the store on Monday has been identified as 53-year-old Bradley Rein.
This is everything we know so far.
Who was the driver?
The driver of the SUV was identified as Bradley Rein, of Natick, by the Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz on Tuesday.
He was arrested on charges of reckless homicide with a motor vehicle and was arraigned in Hingham District Court on Tuesday.
Judge Heather Bradley ordered that the 53-year-old be held on $100,000 cash bail, at the prosecutor’s request.
An attorney representing Rein entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf during his arraignment hearing in Hingham District Court on Tuesday morning. She’d also requested that his bail be set at $20,000 or no higher than $50,000, but the judge ruled in favour of the prosecutor’s request.
Rein was also ordered to not operate a motor vehicle for the duration of the case, as per the prosecutor’s request, to obtain court approval for out-of-state travel.
If he is charged with another crime during the duration of the case, he could be held without bail for up to 90 days should he do so, the Judge Bradley added.
His next court appearance is scheduled for 22 December.
Previously, Mr Cruz had said the driver was in the presence of police officers after the crash.
One person at the scene told a local TV station that the driver appeared to be bloody but alive when he was removed from the SUV by emergency workers.
The Patriot Ledger identified the car as a Toyota 4Runner.
During Tuesday’s arraignment, an attorney representing Rein argued that the crash involving her client had been an “unfortunate accident” and was not intentional.
Where did the crash occur?
The crash took place at a shopping centre on Derby Street in Hingham, a coastal town southeast of Boston, Massachusetts.
When did it happen?
Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz said during a press conference on Monday that several 911 calls came in from the Derby Street shops at around 10.45am.
“A dark-colored SUV ... went through at a rate of speed undetermined, through a … glass window and struck multiple people,” Mr Cruz told reporters.
What has the driver said about the crash?
During a voluntary and recorded interview with investigators after the crash, Rein told officials that he had not intentionally plowed into the Boston suburb Apple store and it had, as he claimed, been an accident.
According to court documents, state trooper Andrew Chiachio had written in the police report that Mr Rein had been in the Derby Street Shops area where the Apple store is located as he was looking to repair the lens in his new eyeglasses, which he was not wearing at the time of the crash.
“While driving in the area of Barnes and Noble, Mr. Rein stated his right foot became stuck on the accelerator and his vehicle accelerated,” wrote Mr Chiachio in the report, according to The Patriot Ledger. “Mr. Rein stated he used his left foot to try to brake, but was unable to stop the vehicle and crashed through the front of the Apple store.”
Rein cooperated with police after the crash and volunteered to give an alcohol breath test at the police station, which registered a 0.00 per cent blood alcohol level.
The 53-year-old driver’s court appointed attorney summed up the crash on Tuesday as an “accident” before describing how her client, a father of two, had no connection to the Apple store or any of the victims and has no criminal record in Massachusetts.
“Though the outcome of this accident was horrific … It was just that. It was an accident,” said Alison King, his court-appointed lawyer, on Tuesday. “He was cooperative with police and was not under the influence of alcohol. ... It’s just really unfortunate.”
Rein was charged with drunken driving in Vermont in December 2020, but that charge has been expunged.
What was the emergency response?
Following the crash, several people were laying on the ground just outside the store as they were being taken care of by first responders.
Police called for a tow truck to remove the vehicle which was lodged in the back wall of the shop, trapping people inside. Several ambulances from departments some distance away from Hingham were brought to the scene, as well as a medical helicopter.
A bus from the MBTA was also put into use as triage.
As of 11.49am, the South Shore Hospital wasn’t taking on any further patients, police radio communications revealed, The Patriot Ledger reported.
What were the injuries?
The deceased victim has been identified as Kevin Bradley, 65, of New Jersey.
The victims were taken to hospitals by ambulances after a Black SUV crashed into the store, Mr Cruz said during the press conference on Monday.
“Fourteen of the victims were taken to South Shore Hospital and Weymouth and two victims [were] taken to Boston area hospitals,” Mr Cruz said.
Those numbers later grew, with South Shore Health saying during a subsequent press briefing that they were treating 17 people from the crash for everything from head trauma to limb damage, WCVB reported.
The chief of trauma at South Shore Health, Dr Christopher Burns, told the press that “we have multiple patients with life-threatening injuries”.
“We have patients in the operating room and people we anticipate going into the operating room,” he added.
Two other victims were taken to Boston for treatment, officials said.
Hingham Fire Chief Steve Murphy said that several people were pinned against the door at the back of the shop.
How has Apple responded?
The page for the Derby Street location on Apple’s site states: “We’re sorry for the inconvenience while this store is closed. Until we can reopen again, please consider using our online services.”
Mr Cruz said employees were “visibly shaken and they’re assembling nearby”.
“This investigation is active and ongoing. We are very limited as to what we can say at this point,” he added.
How much property damage was done?
The glass wall of the store had a large hole in it, footage from the scene shows.
Chief Murphy said that the structural integrity of the building was being evaluated but that were no concerns at the time of the press briefing on Monday afternoon.
What have witnesses said?
“It sounded like an explosion,” one witness said, according to WCVB. “It was so loud.”
“You’d have to really be picking up speed to end up in the storage area at the back side of the Apple store,” Frank O’Brien, who was shopping in the area at the time of the incident, told WCVB.
Lynne Goyuk told Boston 25 News that “it sounded like a bomb went off. We saw several people who should have sought medical attention, but they wouldn’t go over because they knew other people were critical”.
“I just heard like glass shatter, and everyone ran to the window because they thought it was a smash and grab, and there was just a gaping hole in the middle of the Apple Store,” Emily McKenna told the local station. “I didn’t see the car drive by but someone said it was going pretty fast, so maybe he just lost control.”
“My wife is at Derby Street in Hingham, a black 4Runner drove full speed into the Apple store,” one man posted on Twitter shortly after the crash. “She said there are a lot of injuries − my wife used a spare jacket as a tourniquet.”
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