District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau said that no criminal charges will be filed in connection with an August 2014 accident in which a 15-year-old Rockport boy on a bicycle was struck and killed by a truck.
Rushlau said after reviewing the files, he determined that it was not a prosecutable case.
Tyler Wood, of Rockport, died after a 2001 Mitsubishi refrigerated box truck driven by 24-year-old Joseph E. Benedix, of Waldoboro, struck the teenager. Wood and Antonio Seccareccio, 14, of Waldoboro, were stopped in the travel lane of Route 235 talking to two pedestrians when the crash occurred shortly before 8:30 p.m., Aug. 1, 2014.
Rushlau said it was dusk when the crash occurred. The driver had no drugs or alcohol in his system, and investigators determined that speed was not a factor in the crash.
“This was a terrible tragedy for the family, but it is nothing my office can prosecute,” the district attorney said.
He said he notified the attorney for the family about his decision.
Attorney Steven Peterson, of Rockport, said the family is negotiating with the driver’s insurance carrier for a possible settlement. No lawsuit has been filed.
Police said Benedix told them he didn’t see the boys in the road until he was almost upon them. He said he tried to swerve around the boys but struck Wood who was closest to the centerline. The 15-year-old was thrown from his bicycle and landed on the shoulder of the road, police reported. His bicycle is believed to have struck Seccareccio.
Seccareccio suffered a leg injury and required hospitalization.
The truck was registered to Simmons Lobster Wharf Inc., of Friendship, police said at the time of the crash.
