UPDATED Sept. 11: A car driven westbound by a motorist with a recently expired registration hit a pedestrian in the crosswalk on Mass. Ave. in front of Town Hall at midmorning Wednesday. The victim was hurt but is recovering.

"Pedestrian accidents in the community are certainly concerning and always treated with an elevated response level due to the propensity for bodily injury," Captain Richard Flynn, spokesman for the Arlington Police Department, told YourArlington today, Friday, Sept. 8. "We are all pleased to hear that the victim in this accident is home, feeling better and did not sustain serious injuries," 

Flynn added, "After a thorough on-scene investigation by APD officers, the operator of the involved vehicle was issued a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Motor Vehicle Citation for C89/S11 - Failing to yield to a pedestrian crossing the roadway in a crosswalk; and C90/S9 - Operating an unregistered (expired) motor vehicle on a public roadway." 

The driver was identified as Joseph Boike, 68, of Arlington. The vehicle involved had a “spider webbed broken windshield” when observed at the scene, per the initial written APD report.

The victim, who per the report had been thrown some 20 feet further westbound, was identified as Joseph Dellanno, 59, also of Arlington. He was transported by Armstrong Ambulance to the emergency room of Lahey Clinic and underwent a CT scan, but no details of his injuries or condition were disclosed even to police, a redacted police report said. The report said that an APD representative was able to speak briefly in the ER to Dellanno, who stated that he had no recollection of the accident.

  The speed of the involved vehicle and that of one nearby was estimated to have been about 20 mph at the time, police said, based on having spoken to both drivers shortly afterward.

Police said they asked Boike whether he had been using a cellphone or was in any other way distracted and that he replied in the negative.

Witnesses interviewed by police at the scene said that Dellanno appeared to have had his head down, be wearing earbuds and possibly to have been having a telephone conversation at the time of the accident.

In total, two APD sergeants and three APD officers reponded to the scene. 

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This news announcement was published Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, based on a redacted version of a report of a vehicle-into-a-pedestrian accident that occurred near Town Hall the day before from the Arlington Police Department. It was updated Friday, Sept. 8, 2023, with a statement from police that the victim is recovering at home, and again on Sept. 11 with information regarding the victim's age and residency.