Injured son suffers as suspect drives on

The Boston Herald

No doubt you read the story, or glanced at it at least.

It was short, buried inside the paper; a tragedy, yes, but there weren't any pictures or sidebars full of family history. Nobody died. It was a small tragedy, comparatively speaking, just another hit-and-run early last month.

Two young men, one 17, one 22, were hit by a car while crossing the street in Weymouth. The men were airlifted to Boston hospitals. The driver, at the time the story was written, had not been found. That was the beginning and end of it for me. Until the other night, when the phone rang, I hadn't thought of the accident again.

Paul O'Malley, a stranger, identified himself, but he didn't have to. I knew what he was going to say even before he said it. I recognized the voice - bewildered, betrayed, angry, despondent, worn-out, disbelieving - the voice of every parent whose lifetime of making things safe for their children, of checking locks and holding hands and teaching how to cross a street and saying be careful, take care of yourself, is wiped out by the arrogance of a single person who drinks, then drives as if other people don't even exist.

The man told me that he was the father of Shannon O'Malley, the 17-year-old injured Oct. 5. He told me that his son had been crossing Main Street in Weymouth with friends and that a car mowed two of them down and didn't stop. That someone heard the accident, someone who phoned for help then ran outside and did what he could, he was an EMT, or his son would have died then, because the car that slammed into him had dragged Shannon, then driven over a curb to dislodge him, for the boy had been stuck under the car.

Shannon was brought to South Shore Hospital, where plates were put in both legs, then Medivaced to Massachusetts General Hospital because his heart had been punctured and he needed surgery. With that came fluid in his lungs. Plus he has a broken pelvis and a head injury and now a month later he remains unable to speak or move his right side. "His eyes are open but he can't talk," his father said.

There was in his every word, in his every pause, a theme, a question. HOW COULD THIS BE? NOTHING LIKE THIS HAS EVER HAPPENED BEFORE.

The other injured man, John Otis, 22, of Braintree, after 37 hours of surgery, remains at Brigham and Women's Hospital in as serious condition as Shannon.

Meanwhile, the person allegedly responsible for all this pain, Todd Cusick, 20, of Weymouth, charged with driving under the influence, driving to endanger, and leaving the scene of an accident, is spending his days the way he always has - driving around and going to school.

The night of the accident, he took off with a friend, O'Malley said. They drove to New Hampshire in the friend's car. They spent the weekend there. The police got lucky and found Cusick's car in a body shop in Dorchester.

O'Malley is devastated by all that has happened but most astounded by the single fact that the boy who is charged with almost killing his boy is still allowed to drive. He's called the Registry to complain. He's called the State House, Mothers Against Drunk Driving. And he's called the press.

"It's been a nightmare and an education," he said. He didn't think things worked this way.

The thing is, no one does, until it happens to them.