There was heartbreaking testimony Thursday in the trial of a woman accused of causing a 2018 crash that killed a toddler in South Boston. The toddler's mother and his nanny both took the stand.
Charlene Casey, 67, is charged with motor vehicle homicide. Prosecutors said she caused the chain reaction crash in South Boston in July of 2018. The crash killed 2-year-old Colin McGrath and seriously injured his 4-year-old sister, Sloane.
The children were on the sidewalk with their nanny when they were hit.
On the stand, the nanny described the horror of watching a van jump the curb and land on top of the stroller. The van careened onto the sidewalk after it was hit by a Prius.
"I started screaming at the driver to get the van off of Colin, and Sloane was screaming. She was crying for her dad," said the nanny, Tracey Lewis.
Lewis testified through tears as she described calling the children's mother, Kerri McGrath, who also took the stand Thursday.
McGrath, a physician at MGH, was working when the children were hit. She said as soon as she called Boston Medical Center, where the children were transported, she knew something tragic had happened.
"There's, like, this thing you learn, this voice. And I was just like, 'Please tell me. I know what you're doing, just tell me,'" McGrath recalled.
She told the jury once she got to the hospital, doctors were still performing CPR on her son. After she asked them a series of questions, she realized they were not going to be able to save him.
"I told them to just stop and let me hold him," she said.
The trial will continue on Tuesday, when the jury goes to see the scene in South Boston. It is unclear if the defense will call any witnesses.
Casey's attorneys say what happened was an accident, not a crime, but prosecutors argue she was negligent when she drove into the intersection without looking both ways.
