Tragedy in Malden
Workers from Rigano's Towing, above, look over the wreckage of a BMW that crashed into a Malden home yesterday.
Jean-Marc Olivier was driving a 1996 red BMW north on the Fellsway yesterday when it smashed through a wrought-iron fence and struck a two-family house.
By Jessica Fargen |
PUBLISHED: March 22, 2008 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: November 17, 2018 at 12:00 a.m.
Distraught family members described the 22-year-old Bunker Hill Community College student who was killed when he crashed his car into a Malden home yesterday as "always respectful, always nice, always quiet . . . and always smiling."
Jean-Marc Olivier, 22, of Malden was driving a 1996 red BMW north on the Fellsway at about 4:30 a.m. yesterday when it smashed through a wrought-iron fence and struck a two-family house at Fellsway and Charles Street and burst into flames, killing him and another passenger and injuring his 16-year-old sister, state police said.
Olivier was pronounced dead at the scene. A teenage girl who was ejected from the car was pronounced dead. The third passenger, Olivier's sister Rachel, was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital and is expected to survive.
No one was injured inside the house.
Olivier was a student at Bunker Hill Community College and was on work-study, relatives said. He also worked part-time at a fast-food restaurant.
"He didn't speak a lot, but he was always smiling. That's how I will always remember him, as a sweet young man, always smiling," said Marjorie Depestre of Maryland, Olivier's aunt.
Said Joe Depestre, her husband: "He liked to play basketball. He also loved watching movies and spending time with his sister and family. This is not a child that you needed to yell at. He was always playing and having fun. He will be greatly missed."
State police Maj. Kevin Kelly said speed may have been a factor in the crash, which closed the Fellsway northbound at the east/west split.
Olivier's driving record shows no major driving citations.
One neighbor who lives three doors down from the scene of the crash was not surprised by the tragedy.
"This is nothing new," said Stephane Anderson, 35. "They (drivers) are always flying up and down the Fellsway."
Yesterday morning, the twisted and mangled fence lay on the lawn and tiny pieces of glass littered the sidewalk. A smashed cell phone rested in the grass.
Jessica Fargen