Martha Coakley
09.15.2009 Dear Attorney General Coakley,
It is more than possible that you are familiar with one small section of my life, as your office has prosecuted me. That is not why I write. I choose to trust that I will receive equal consideration, and that any judgment of me in regards to my concerns will not impact your listening.
Nothing will bring what taught me about love back to life. It is from this love that I communicate to you after months and months of thought.
I write about Fire Chief David Rich of Plympton, Massachusetts. He was found by OEMS not to have assessed or attempted to resuscitate my only child, Torri Wightman, on May 16, 2006.
The front line responder, a police officer, tried to comfort me with the well-meaning platitudes offered in this situation. “She died instantly, in less than a second, there was no blood, she didn’t suffer,” etc. I was willing to integrate this as best I could; yet the piece kept nudging itself out of its intended place inside of me.
The girl in front of Torri survived with incredible damage and her torn aorta was repaired. We know that teenagers can go on the longest without a pulse and oxygen and have a relatively good prognosis.
The shoddy investigation was focused on the driver, Erin Leith, and failed to live up to even the lowest standards. Leith’s cell records were not requested or procured by the ADA, the car was never impounded (I found it in a Taunton junkyard that week unprotected from the rain), the first two witnesses to the scene were never interviewed, one of who was an eyewitness. The man that tried to help Torri when she said she couldn’t breath killed himself in the woods months later. Terry Lynn, a man not known to me who made direct threats to harm my daughter only days, hours, before, was never considered. He was later brought to court by the Norwell Police.
Although I am dulled by so many events, I know there is no action that can resurrect my Bean, Torri Wightman. But what if this can be made better for just one more person. What if a mother’s heart can be spared, her guts left intact, her life left purposeful? What if there are lessons to be learned by her senseless and preventable death? Torri’s life will not have ended only in the shadowed memory of her mother, the ex-stripper, and unlicensed psychologist. Torri deserved better.
The investigative faux pas notwithstanding, the behaviors and decisions of Fire Chief Rich are unthinkable. I enclose the OEMS report and its findings for your reference. The report was initiated because a mother, this mother, needed the rest of her child’s life story and Rich would never provide the documentation, even though he would promise the same.
I already knew in every cell of my body that she suffered alone that rainy May morning. That she died in the company of strangers.
I saw the photographs of her lifeless face when I met with the ADA regarding the Leith trial. When I learned of the insufficiencies in the case against her, I chose not to attend. As an aside, I would like the photographs of my dead little girl removed from the Commonwealth file and placed in my hands, in a sealed envelope.
The statute has long since run out for any civil action. This was never my interest in spite of the perception many have of me. It is this man who failed to save my daughter’s life. Although I may never know how the accident came to be, the latter fact is quite tangible.
This morning I received an email from Chad Hirtle’s widow. Here is the content:
I am Chad Hirtle’s wife Barbara, after almost a year I have looked on his site and found you.I remember my husband calling me that tragic day of your daughter’s passing. He was crying and said he wished he could have done more to help, he felt helpless. What he experienced after that was worse. He had constant nightmares, anxiety attacks and the pain he felt for your family.It was overwhelming to him. He had helped with a little girl in the car, he said she was bent over saying she could not breath. He feared this innocent life would be lost. You see my husband also had one other thing on his mind following the accident. He had been in your daughters room months before that installing heat and air conditioning in her father’s house. He knew that as soon as he saw her precious face. He said Barbara I was in her home I installed their heat and then I saw her pass away. It weighed heavily on his heart. Then the phone calls kept coming in about court, he did not know what to do. As I was cleaning under his desk one day I found he had kept all the articles on the accident that he could find, newspapers and downloads from the internet. I feel not only did you loose your beautiful daughter that tragic day but also I lost my husband. Please accept my deepest condolances on your beloved Tori. Thank you for posting about my loving husband Chad.
Torri went to live more full-time with her father, Donald Wightman, a sergeant detective for BPD, following the surveillance by Mike Beaudet of Fox 25. It all became too much for a 15 year old girl and a mother who couldn’t protect her from the callous disregard of that world. Had so many things not happened because of my own selfishness and naïveté, all would be well. How then do I derive purpose when I was so ineffective to protect?
This is how, Attorney General Coakley. I have been forced to be responsible for confabulations and also my ignorance. This is distant second to the man who has not been brought to light for his lack of even a meager attempt to save a life. That is his job.
Her life, it would have contributed much to the darkness.
I very much look forward to hearing back from you.
