Six months after Cambridge cyclist death, authorities seek charges against driver

Boston Globe

25-03-2025

Police said at the time the driver lost control of his vehicle and struck Corcoran. The driver, who has yet to be identified, was described at the time as a man in his 20s. Corcoran was later pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital, authorities said.
The update from the district attorney, which did not include the specific charges prosecutors are seeking, followed a probe led by the Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section. A spokesperson for the state police said investigators completed that effort earlier this month.
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It also comes after six long months of waiting for Barbara Bower, Corcoran's widow, who said she learned of the progress in the case in a meeting on Monday with the District Attorney's office.
Reminders of her late husband come often, she said.
In the time that has passed since the crash, she and her two children have been filling a group chat, and a notebook, with catchphrases Corcoran used to say.
They have soothed the family dog, who spent many work-from-home days curled up on his lap, and still seems confused that he's gone.
On Christmas Eve, they couldn't bring themselves to revive a family tradition of playing the video game Rock Band together. Without Corcoran there to sing 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' it wouldn't have been the same.
'I probably think of him more now than when he was alive,' said Bower. 'It's just always there, the empty bed that you wake up to, the empty seat at the table. Coming home from work, and the house is quiet and dark.'
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The fatal crash was one of three involving cyclists in Cambridge last year, galvanizing the local biking community behind efforts to improve roadways — and, for many, to hold the drivers involved accountable.
The other cases involved two cyclists who authorities said were fatally struck by box trucks in June.
The first was Kim Staley, a 55-year-old Florida resident, who had been riding a bike on Mt. Auburn Street near Harvard Square. Two weeks later, Minh-Thi Nguyen, a 24-year-old MIT graduate student, died after a crash while riding a bike on Hampshire Street in Kendall Square.
Those cases remain open, police said.
Nguyen's family last month
Activists last fall held rallies calling for roadway improvements after the death of cyclist John Corcoran after a crash near the Boston University DeWolfe Boathouse in September.
Kayla Bartkowski For The Boston
Delayed resolution in collisions that lead to deaths or serious injuries is a common predicament, experts said, given the pace of the reconstruction processes in cases like these.
The wait can be excruciating.
'It puts everything at a standstill,' said Brian Simoneau, a Marlborough-based attorney. 'It's a huge problem.'
A State Police spokesperson said crash investigations, which are exhaustive, are typically completed in 120 days — about four months — although they can take longer for more complex cases.
Simoneau, who represents people who have had their license suspended in Massachusetts while such investigations are pending, said it can take a year or more for the reports to be released.
Often investigators have to wait for other results, including toxicology or autopsy reports, which can themselves be bogged down by backlogs, Simoneau said. He believes the entire system should move more quickly.
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After the three Cambridge deaths, cyclists pushed for roadway improvements.
The Department of Conservation and Recreation in October announced plans to begin work on
Bower, for her part, said she is thankful for the support she has received from Boston-area cyclists, and has considered taking them up on an offer to get involved in advocacy for bicycling causes.
'Just a really wonderful community of people,' she said, of the bike advocates. 'I'm sorry that we weren't a part of it when John was alive because we've met some really, really great people.'
In the meantime, Bower said her family has been doing what it can to keep themselves occupied.
Her children, both Harvard students, stayed in school and are on track to graduate on time. Their father, also a Harvard man and ever the forward thinker, had scheduled a graduation party at the Harvard Club for his oldest just a week before he died.
Bower is also training to run the Boston Marathon in April, and the routine has been a salve on hard days. She still visits the 'ghost bike,' which activists attached to a fence outside the BU Boathouse during a ceremony after his death, regularly.
And she continues to think of her late husband, she said, 'almost every second of every day.'
Barbara Bower and her daughter on Sunday visited the "ghost bike" memorial for her late husband, John Corcoran, near the Boston University DeWolfe Boathouse.
Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
Spencer Buell can be reached at