Man charged in crash that killed Waltham officer, National Grid worker due back in court

A New Hampshire man charged in connection with a hit-and-run crash at a worksite in Waltham that left a veteran police officer and a beloved utility worker dead is slated to return to court Thursday for a dangerousness hearing.

Peter Simon, 54, of Woodsville, was arraigned last month on two counts of manslaughter and armed robbery in the deaths of 58-year-old Waltham Police Officer Paul Tracey, a husband and father of two who was working a detail, and Roderick Jackson, a 36-year-old National Grid worker from Cambridge.

A plea of not guilty was entered on Simon’s behalf. At Thursday’s hearing, a judge will decide if he should remain jailed while he awaits trial.

Simon was driving without a license when he “veered his vehicle” toward the worksite, barreling into Tracey and Jackson on the afternoon of Dec. 7, according to prosecutors.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Waltham Police Chief Kevin O’Connell 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.

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.

Simon is also facing additional charges including failure to stop for police, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, larceny of a motor vehicle, armed robbery, multiple counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, leaving the scene of an accident after personal injury and death, two counts of leaving the scene after causing property damage, marked lanes violation, and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Boston 25 learned at the time of the crash 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.

At the time, Cheshire County Attorney Peter Heed said Simon suffered from a disassociative disorder and a history of panic attacks.

Simon’s sentence was later terminated in Nov. 2015.

O’Connell remembered Tracey as a great family man and a dedicated 28-year veteran of the police force.

“Paul Tracey served this great city with distinction. He was a compassionate police officer who always looked out for the underdog,” O’Connell said during a news conference alongside Ryan late Wednesday night. “He was an amazing husband, loving father, and an amazing friend to all, especially the men and women here at this police department.”

The streets of Waltham were transformed into a sea of blue when thousands of law enforcement officials from across the United States gathered for Tracey’s funeral.

Jackson was the backbone of his family and he is described as kind, loving, and hardworking. Manuel Asprilla-Hassan, Jackson’s brother, called his sibling the “heart of the family.”

“I’ll tell you right now he was a legend. He was the heart of this family, of this entire family. That’s who he was,” Asprilla-Hassan said. “Anybody who knows him, the most selfless man ever, ever. The most selfless man. He was more than just my brother, he was my father. That’s the heart of this family, that’s what was taken from us.”

Jackson was laid to rest two days after Tracey’s funeral.

An investigation into the crash is ongoing.

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