Driver Charged, License Suspended in Monday's Accident at Playground

 The elderly woman behind the wheel of Monday afternoon's car accident at Beginning Years Child Development Center on 50 North St. has been charged by police, according to Medfield Police Chief Robert Meaney Jr. 

"License was revoked by the Registry of Motor Vehicles and she will be charged with operating recklessly," Meaney said Tuesday afternoon. 

The driver has been identified as 86-year-old Lucy Jackson, according to Fox 25 Boston. Jackson, along with her daughter, Kathy Walsh, who was in the passenger seat of the 1998 Jaguar, were taken to the hospital for minor injuries and as "a precaution," according to Meaney. No children were outside or hurt during the accident. Walsh was identified by Channel 7 News. 

Meaney said the call came into the Medfield Police station around 3:10 p.m. Monday. Beginning Years' owner, Cathleen Farewell, said she was in the classroom with the children during naptime when a teacher at the center informed her of the incident.

"I heard nothing [when it happened]," Farrell said. "One of my teachers was in the hallway and heard a noise and looked out the window and saw a car. She said

‘Kathleen, can you come help me?’ She was calm and we went outside to the car.

"The teacher (Kim Klipp) I was with pried the [car] door open to help get [Jackson] out and [Jackson] was moving around and scooched herself out and we helped her up and I helped her back and she sat on the wall, so at least she could sit her body down."

Melissa McCormack, a Medfield resident and mother of two children who are enrolled in the half-day program at Beginning Years, was worried by the news and concerned for the safety of the teachers and children at the center.

"I was initially shocked and frightened that the children and teachers were out on the playground or that the car may have gone through the classroom windows," said McCormack, who's children were not at the center at the time of the accident. "I know all of the staff and children that attend the school and it is an unimaginable thought that something like this could happen. I was so relieved to hear the news that everyone was safe."

Farrell said nurses and doctors from the  Center, upstairs from the preschool, came down to the playground to assist the women involved in the accident. 

"It was kind of surreal," said Farrell. "A total fluke of an incident."

Meaney Jr. said Jackson accelerated 140 feet through the Post Office parking lot, near the mailboxes, to the sidewalk of 50 North St., turning over and landing in the playground of the Child Development Center. 

"The woman was just dropping off letters at the mailbox and from there we end up over [at the playground]," said Meaney. "We’ve got some witness statements that say the car accelerated."

Assured Collision lifted the vehicle from the playground and transported it across the street into the Montrose School's parking lot, where Medfield Police and Massachusetts State Troopers were investigating the vehicle further.

"State Police officer came to check the mechanical function of the car," Meaney said. "Officer Bento will be handling the investigation with little input from me."

The amount of property damage will be determined by Fire Chief William Kingsbury.

"It gives me chills just thinking what could have happened if it were a different day or time," said McCormack. "Everyone at [Beginning Years] is a friend and I can only focus on the fact that everyone is fine and now our playground will be more secure."

Farrell said Tuesday that , regardless of the weather, at the time of the accident.

"We don’t go out to the playground until around 4 o’clock at the earliest,” Farrell said. “That’s just how our schedule is.”

Farrell and her directors at the center sent out an e-mail within half-an-hour of the accident, informing parents of the news and to assure them that their children were safe. 

"I just basically said there was an accident on North Street and that the children were all safe and the teachers were all safe and that the woman was out of the car and no one was seriously injured," Farrell said. "Then we sent out another e-mail later that evening around 7 [Monday] night with the plans of what was going to be taking place."

Some of those plans were already being discussed at the scene by the landlord and building contractor, according to Farrell. 

"I had called the landlord after the woman got out of the car to let them know it had happened and obviously making all those steps that I needed to make sure people knew about it," said Farrell. "The landlord came immediately and they already had plans in mind on what they were thinking on what would be the right thing to do in terms of that. My contractor because we just redid this space in August and moved in from our old school [on Dale Street].  All the right people were there helping and knowing how to make it all happen."

Now, Farrell and her staff aim to return to business as usual, focusing on not altering the children's environment.

"I have been in contact with the police chief and we have had the police here [Tuesday] shooing the television stations away because this is a business that deals with children and they need to go away," said Farrell.