Wareham native stops intersection disaster

Jul 18, 2014

If not for Boston Police Officer Clifton Singletary, a Wareham native, a normal day in Boston could have become a tragedy.

According to a report from the Boston Police Department, Singletary was assisting the operator of a 60-foot flatbed tractor-trailer truck on Beacon Hill Thursday when a passenger informed him that the truck had lost the use of its brakes.

As the truck began to roll down Walnut Street toward its intersection with Beacon Street, Singletary mounted his motorcycle and raced ahead of the runaway truck towards the next intersection.

There, he quickly cleared the area of pedestrians and vehicles, one of which he noticed was a trolley tour bus full of small children. Soon after, the truck sped through the recently emptied intersection before crashing into Boston Common and coming to a halt.

Boston Police quote Singletary as saying that he was just glad to be in the right place at the right time.

“God was with us today," said Singletary. "It’s a miracle that nobody got hurt.”

Singletary, whose Facebook page says he attended and graduated from Wareham High School, could not be reached for comment at this time.  A post on the Wareham Police Department's Facebook page identified Singletary as a Wareham native, though no one at the Department could be reached for comment.