National Grid employee killed in crash remembered by family; scholarship, lawsuit to come
The family of Roderick Jackson — the Cambridge man and National Grid employee killed on the job in Waltham earlier this month — remembered him at a press conference in Boston on Friday, recalling a man dedicated to supporting his family, and suggested a lawsuit is imminent.
Jackson’s brother, Manuel Asprilla-Hassan, his mother, Norma Asprilla, and sisters Esmeralda Asprilla and Yanthia DeJesus spoke with reporters, seated at Altman Nussbaum Shunnarah Trial Attorney’s law offices with their lawyer Thomas Flaws.
The day before Jackson’s funeral, the family also talked about honoring his legacy by creating a scholarship, something that will be important for people “just like him to be given the same opportunities,” Asprilla-Hassan said Friday.
“My brother raised me since I was 6 years old,” Asprilla-Hassan told reporters. “He’s all the support I’ve had –my mother, as well.”
Jackson and Waltham Police Officer Paul Tracey both died at a construction site Dec.
6 after authorities say New Hampshire[2] resident Peter Simon, 54, drove a truck into a National Grid work site on Totten Pond Road[3] where the officer was working a paid detail. Two other workers were also hurt in the crash.
In 2019, Simon was charged in connection with an incident that took place Aug.
21, 2009, and he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to a charge[4] of reckless conduct, court documents show. In 2011, he was sentenced to serve five years in a New Hampshire state prison in a secure psychiatric unit.
Simon was arrested again in New Hampshire on July 23, 2016, according to court documents. Patch.com[6] reported[7] that during this incident, he crashed into another vehicle in Franklin, New Hampshire, before threatening a man and woman and strangling the man.
Simon was sentenced to several years in prison after this incident, but it is unclear for how long he was actually incarcerated.
He also had his license revoked and was ordered to complete an impaired driver care management program, according to court records.
At the time of the Dec.
6 crash, Simon, who is now a Woodsville resident, did not have a valid license[8], authorities said.
Flaws said there was a “failure on a systemic level” for Simon to be in a position where he was able to cause a crash given his criminal history[10]. He stopped short of saying why, adding he does not have enough information to say what the failure is, but that it will lead to a lawsuit after an estate in Jackson’s memory is set up.
Asprilla-Hassan, a New Jersey law clerk and a former cornerback for the Los Angeles Chargers, said he wanted to follow in “Kito’s,” Jackson’s nickname, footsteps. Jackson took him to football practice, helped him train and helped him buy gear and food after practice.
“When I got to college, I told him about my scholarship at (Boston College),” Asprilla-Hassan said. “All the effort he put into me (was) paying off.
He never missed all four years. Every game. He would call me after practice.
We played in California and he was so happy, even when we lost.”
Jackson was there when his brother had to undergo surgery on his knees, supporting him to the fullest, Asprilla-Hassan said.
“He was everything to us and he lost it all, in the blink of an eye,” he continued. “My brother was my pride and joy. I can still smell him, I can hear his voice, I can still hear his jokes. We can’t sleep, we can’t eat.
I can’t even think. I watch the way it impacts my sisters and it hurts … I feel empty without him.”
He recalled the two sharing the same room together until he was 27, “and I never complained about it.
I didn’t need my own room, I needed my brother.”
The family briefly talked about a scholarship that will be set up in Jackson’s honor. Asprilla-Hassan said his brother wanted his siblings to follow in his footsteps given he was the first person in the family to go to college.
Few other details were shared, other than the plan to set it up was in motion.
“We want to support individuals,” Asprilla-Hassan said. “Individuals that are the flesh of my brother.”
Services for the former National Grid employee are scheduled for Saturday, Dec.
16,[13] at St. Paul AME Church in Cambridge, with services between 9 and 11 a.m., followed by a funeral at 11 a.m., Jackson’s obituary on Legacy[14] said.
The church is located at 37 Bishop Allen Drive.
The United Steelworkers International and USW Local 12003[16] also expressed their condolences to Jackson’s family and said they mourn the death of their brother.
“They stole him from us,” sister Esmerelda said. “The glue to this family.”
References
- ^ Waltham Police Officer Paul Tracey’s funeral held at church where he married his soulmate (www.masslive.com)
- ^ New Hampshire (www.masslive.com)
- ^ drove a truck into a National Grid work site on Totten Pond Road (www.masslive.com)
- ^ charge (www.masslive.com)
- ^ GoFundMe raising money for family of National Grid worker killed in Waltham (www.masslive.com)
- ^ Patch.com (patch.com)
- ^ reported (patch.com)
- ^ did not have a valid license (www.masslive.com)
- ^ Lawyer for Waltham crash victim’s family calls suspect a ‘habitual offender’ (www.masslive.com)
- ^ his criminal history (www.masslive.com)
- ^ How to watch Waltham Police Officer Paul Tracey’s funeral online (www.masslive.com)
- ^ National Grid worker killed in Waltham crash remembered as selfless (www.masslive.com)
- ^ scheduled for Saturday, Dec.
16,
(www.masslive.com) - ^ Legacy (www.legacy.com)
- ^ Funeral planned for National Grid employee killed in double fatal crash (www.masslive.com)
- ^ United Steelworkers International and USW Local 12003 (www.masslive.com)