'An injustice': Family of motorcyclist who died in Worcester crash decries plea

WORCESTER – The family of 24-year-old motorcyclist David P. Gleason, who was killed last year after a driver who had failed to yield struck and dragged him across Grafton Street, says it's "an injustice" that the woman has reached a plea that will allow her to avoid jail time.

Agnes W. Mwangi, 57, of Worcester, was sentenced to two years of probation. She also lost her license for 15 years and was ordered to complete 200 hours of community service after pleading guilty on Thursday to one charge of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation.

Members of Gleason’s family said justice would have been the 18-month jail sentence initially recommended by prosecutors. The ruling was an unagreed plea, in which Judge Jennifer L. Ginsburg issued a sentence after hearing recommendations from both sides. The district attorney wanted jail time, asking for 2 ½ years in the House of Correction, with 18 months to serve and balance suspended for five years, plus loss of license for 15 years and 100 hours of community service, according to a spokesman for District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

The defense did not want jail time.

“We don’t feel that we got a fair decision," said the victim's mother, Rosemary Gleason. “Nothing was fair. It was all unjust.”

On Monday, less than a week after the court proceeding, Rosemary Gleason, 64, and other family members visited the makeshift memorial that took shape at the crash site on Sunderland Road. The memorial remains, kept up by family and friends.

The family directed strong words toward the office of Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., saying that the assistant district attorney on the case was "too soft" and that the office didn't follow up on a guarantee that prosecutors would fight for jail time for Mwangi.

"The assistant district attorney hugged Rosemary after the plea deal and said she was sorry," said Lisa Luccarelli, the mother of Gleason's girlfriend. "What good does saying sorry do? She promised jail time."

After two attempts for comment, Early's representatives did not offer a reaction to the family’s statements, beyond supplying basic facts of the case. The Telegram & Gazette also reached out to Mwangi's defense lawyer, Marc Brofsky, who declined to comment.

More than a year after the fatal crash, the memorial remains a place for the family to mourn David Gleason. On Monday, among other items at the memorial were toy motorcycles, crucifixes and candles, all placed there since Gleason’s death the evening of July 23, 2022.

'I love you, Sonny!'

Around 9 o'clock that night, Rosemary Gleason said, her son hopped on his Honda motorcycle for a short ride to McDonald’s, not far from their home on Grafton Street.

Seconds before riding off the driveway, Gleason said his last words to his mother.

"I said ‘I love you, Sonny!'’’ recalled Rosemary. “He said ‘I love you, Momma!’

“That was our last exchange.”

Police reports used video surveillance footage from nearby businesses to describe Gleason riding northbound on Grafton Street and stopping at a red light in the northbound lane closest to the center lines.

When the traffic signal turned green, Gleason rode straight.

Mwangi’s vehicle, a 2013 Toyota Venza SUV, began to turn left across the lane.

Mwangi crashed into the motorcycle, driving over Gleason with the right front tire and not stopping for approximately 70 feet, police said.

During that time, Gleason was trapped between the car’s engine and the undercarriage; he was dragged to his death.

John Gleason, David's uncle, described what he saw when he was later called to the scene, speaking while holding Gleason’s black helmet.

“The blood was zigzag down the street all the way here,” said John, pointing near where the memorial is now set.

A salesman at Patrick Mazda in Auburn, David Gleason was a Burncoat High School graduate who had worked as a mechanic for Patrick Motor Group for a few years.

Rosemary Gleason said her son would often dress up in a dinosaur costume, doing a banana dance to humor his colleagues and customers.

Next to a photograph of her son, she left at the memorial a book and a pen inside a Tupperware container for friends and family to write a note in his memory.

She said that the morning following the accident, Gleason’s friends had cleaned the blood off the street with bleach so she wouldn’t have to see it.

Family still in mourning

With some help, Rosemary Gleason also collected pieces of the motorcycle, all left scattered across the street after city workers had cleaned the scene.

“The pieces of the motorcycle are in a paper bag in his room where I’ve made a shrine to him in his room at home,” she said.

She also placed birthday celebration balloons, like colorful breaks among the other poignant items at the memorial, when she went to the site Aug. 1, which would’ve been her son’s 26th birthday.

She said she often speaks to photos of her son, as if he were listening.

“I tell him that it’s wrong, that I’m sorry he’s gone, that I miss him, that I love him,” said Rosemary with a quiver in her voice. “I can't believe this happened. It’s so unfair.”

Luccarelli, the mother of Gleason’s girlfriend, whom he had been dating for 14 months, said Gleason had told her he was planning to propose to her daughter on her birthday.

That date would’ve been about a month from the night he was killed.

“He was so genuine,” said Luccarelli, 46. “The first time I met him he had the biggest smile. He came right over and gave me a hug and introduced himself.

"I knew right then that he was the one. We were preparing for a wedding.”

Although visibly hurt, Rosemary Gleason showed strength as she held on to a walker.

Holding back tears, she echoed other family members when saying that they would reach out to officials as far as the Statehouse to advocate for a mandatory minimum jail sentence for vehicular homicide.

“David was my blood. He was my bones. He was my flesh," said Rosemary Gleason. "I’ve survived cancer three times.

“I’m a fighter and I will continue to fight for him.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Family of David Gleason says plea deal in motorcycle crash is injustice