Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Westford Chief of Police Mark Chambers have announced that Nancy J. Durost, 73 of Westford, has been charged with motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation and failing to yield at an intersection in connection with a fatal motor vehicle crash that occurred in September 2019. The defendant was operating an Acton-Boxborough Regional School District bus when she allegedly struck and killed Steven R. Welch, 20 of Westford who was driving a motorcycle.
Nancy J. Durost will be arraigned on October 15, 2021, in Ayer District Court.
On September 19, 2019, at approximately 3:48 p.m., Westford Police responded to a crash that had occurred on West Street in the area of Blanchard Middle School in Westford. Preliminary investigation suggests that Nancy Durost was driving the school bus, traveling north on West Street, when she attempted to turn left into the Blanchard Middle School’s driveway and allegedly struck the motorcyclist. Steven Welch was pronounced dead on the scene. No one on the school bus, which was transporting the Acton-Boxborough field hockey team at the time of the crash, was injured. On September 20, 2019, Nancy Durost was served with an Immediate Threat notification from the Registry of Motor Vehicles, which suspended her license while the investigation was ongoing.
This investigation is being conducted by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, Westford Police and the Massachusetts State Police Crash Analysis and Reconstruction (CARS) and Crime Scene sections. The prosecutor assigned to this case is David Yasinovsky and the Victim Witness Advocate is Laura Schwertz.
