Deadly Apple Store car crash was an accident, driver claims
The man who crashed through the Apple Derby Street retail store in Massachusetts, killing one, has said in his defense that the incident was not an attack, and was instead an "unfortunate accident."
Source: AP Photo/Steven Senne
Bradley Rein, 52, drove his Toyota 4Runner through the front glass of the Apple Store in Hingham, Massachusetts, on Monday morning. The car crashed through the glass at speed, and only stopped when it hit the Store's rear wall.
According to MassLive, was in court Tuesday morning, facing charges of reckless motor vehicle homicide. Rein reportedly claims that his foot became stuck on the gas and that he was unable to brake in time.
Rein's defense attorney, who described the incident as an "unfortunate accident," requested bail be set at $20,000. The Hingham District Court instead set bail at $100,000.
Following the crash, Rein was reportedly uninjured -- although earlier witness reports said he was bloodied. He went with officers to the Hingham Police Department, where he voluntarily undertook a breathalyzer test which was negative.
MassLive reports that at least 20 people were severely injured. Doctors at South Shore Hospital treated 17 people -- others were taken to hospital in Boston -- and described the injuries as "life and limb-threatening."
The injuries include head traumas and what are described as "mangled limbs." The crash also killed Kevin Bradley, a 65-year-old New Jersey man, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Rein told officers he had no medical issues, and that to the best of his knowledge, his car had no mechanical faults.
Read on AppleInsider
Source: AP Photo/Steven Senne
Bradley Rein, 52, drove his Toyota 4Runner through the front glass of the Apple Store in Hingham, Massachusetts, on Monday morning. The car crashed through the glass at speed, and only stopped when it hit the Store's rear wall.
According to MassLive, was in court Tuesday morning, facing charges of reckless motor vehicle homicide. Rein reportedly claims that his foot became stuck on the gas and that he was unable to brake in time.
Rein's defense attorney, who described the incident as an "unfortunate accident," requested bail be set at $20,000. The Hingham District Court instead set bail at $100,000.
Following the crash, Rein was reportedly uninjured -- although earlier witness reports said he was bloodied. He went with officers to the Hingham Police Department, where he voluntarily undertook a breathalyzer test which was negative.
MassLive reports that at least 20 people were severely injured. Doctors at South Shore Hospital treated 17 people -- others were taken to hospital in Boston -- and described the injuries as "life and limb-threatening."
The injuries include head traumas and what are described as "mangled limbs." The crash also killed Kevin Bradley, a 65-year-old New Jersey man, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Rein told officers he had no medical issues, and that to the best of his knowledge, his car had no mechanical faults.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Some things investigators will do:
- Measure distances between pedals. Some vehicles have closely spaced pedals and are more likely to contribute to someone getting a foot stuck or hitting the wrong pedal,
- What size feet the driver has and what footwear they were wearing at the time. Large work boots are more likely to get caught in pedals than sneakers.
- Are there any floor mats or carpets installed that may have contributed to the accident.
- Are there any modifications to the vehicle that could have contributed to this accident.
- Were they pressing on the brake and throttle at the same time?
It’s hard to say at this point what really happened, but there are lots of things investigators can look into besides the obvious things like witness accounts or security footage.
https://www.patriotledger.com/story/news/2022/11/22/clean-up-starts-at-derby-street-after-deadly-crash-through-apple-storefront/69670045007/
Does not bode well for him.
Horrible accident is what this is. It is not some conspiracy driven plot.
I wonder of the driver, a 52 year old guy, is an iPhone user or android!
What I want to know is, why aren't there concrete polls or similar obstacles placed nearest the asphalt area so as to prevent the possibility of someone parked in front hitting the gas pedal instead of the break, thereby stopping the car with the concrete polls rather than allow the car to freely pass through the glass? This is important for any storefront, but even more so for Apple, where in many cases the smash and break events are rather common.
Here in Japan, we have many cases of old people doing that. It's never on purpose, but somehow they end up with their aging foot of lead on the gas and it stays there until they've broken through the front of a building. No doubt those cases were why Toyota came out with its Safety Sense tech, that programs the car to notice objects and prevents the car from smashing into them. But that tech doesn't help old cars, which is why concrete blocks need to be installed. And that shouldn't be the responsibility of Apple either. That's just smart shopping mall and parking lot design. Sure it costs more, but such barriers prevent tragic accidents like this.