If you watched Channel 5’s story on the four-car accident caused by Cambridge City Councillor and state Senate candidate Anthony Galluccio two months ago, you heard occupants of the three other cars – lawyer Ed Prisby, cab driver William Jones, and a third person identified only as Peter – state unequivocally that Galluccio appeared to be obviously drunk at the scene of the accident. You also heard Galluccio deny that he had had anything to drink that night. I wrote up Prisby’s account of the incident in this post.
Today I spoke with Peter, who was driving the car that Galluccio ran into. (He still wishes to be identified only by his first name.) Peter told me that the smell of alcohol on Galluccio was obvious. He also told me that Galluccio appeared to be attempting to leave the scene immediately after the accident, and that he (Peter) physically removed Galluccio from his car to prevent that from happening.
Also, Peter visited Blue Mass. Group today and left the following comment on this post (there are some typos which I have not corrected – this is exactly what Peter posted):
This is my first post on this site. To be honest with you, I have never ever been to this site before today. Regardless, I’m happy to be here any contribute what I can. Unfortunately I won’t be contributing too much speculation, but what I can offer you are the facts that I have about that night back in December. Why would I know? Well, I guess you could say that I’ve had a unique insight into what happened that night. I’m Peter; you might be familiar with the back of my head from the Channel 5 piece. I’ve asked to have my anonymity preserved through this ordeal, as reported by Janet Wu, because of reasons that are truly “unrelated to the accident”.
So what did really happen that night, Anthony? I’m more and more surprised every time I hear something new from him on the matter, and Bob’s article is not exception. What’s interesting is that he seems to recount the night as though he actually remembers what happened. This, coming from a guy, as I’ve been told by his insurance company, who called them the next day to report his car stolen. If he wasn’t lying about that, my best guess is that he woke up the next day not remembering much about the night before, to find that his car was gone and really did thing that it had been stolen. The next call to his insurance company, as I’ve been told, was to say that I had run a red light and hit him and the he wasn’t able to stop in time to avoid me hitting him because he hit black ice. Those are some mind boggling logistics with the amount of rear end damage sustained to my vehicle, let alone the other vehicles involved. I’ve also been told that was followed by a signed operators report on Cambridge City Councilorâs stationary to the same, faxed to his insurance company. If he had lied about it, I think that gets closer to the heart of his character than anything.
I would be very surprised if Mr. Galluccio could tell any part of that night’s story consistent with the stories of the other 10 people who where there. I’d be surprised if he could identify me or any of the others at the scene, or the officer that he’s saying didn’t know who he was and did not “treat him lightly because of that” (keep in mind that the officer never actually saw him). Also keep in mind that, in the opinions of those who were there, this is someone who didn’t only have a few too many, but appeared to be so drunk that he couldn’t even walk or talk. “Legless” is the term most often used. This is someone who had to be physically removed from his vehicle because he was about to drive off into a crowd of people in the street. This is barely someone who could make “sure that no one was injured and that everyone was compensated”.
As for my motivation, I’m sorry to report that it’s neither monetary nor political, as suggested by Mr. Galluccio. My motivation is a commitment to seeking justice. It’s about the truth, and it’s about protecting the public. Even if the system may have failed, I’d argue that Mr. Galluccio will think twice about getting into a car after drinking. That’s a good start to protecting someone else from being injured, or even killed. The truth is all I seek to give. If you have any questions about that night and want the plain facts, feel free to ask. Iâm here to offer the facts as I remember them. My memory and conscience are pretty clear.
One potentially serious aspect of this matter that remains unresolved is the possibility mentioned in Peter’s comment that Galluccio prepared an inaccurate account of the accident on Cambridge City Council letterhead and delivered that account to his insurance company. Peter told me that he was informed of the existence of that document by a claims handler at Galluccio’s insurance company, but that he (Peter) has never actually seen it.
Notwithstanding Galluccio’s comments to Janet Wu and at the DFA Cambridge event last night, significant questions remain to be answered about this incident. We will be continuing to try to answer them in the coming days.
