Gracie and her grandmother were crossing near the intersection of Congress and Sleeper streets in the Fort Point neighborhood when the pre-kindergartner was struck by a Ford F-150 truck on March 24.
Advertisem*nt
The driver remained at the scene. No criminal charges or citations have been issued. The crash remains under investigation.
“At the end of the day, folks are simply not following the rules of the road, paying attention to when kids are crossing the street,” Gancheva said. “We’re seeing all too often drivers driving distracted, not stopping at stop signs, rolling through pedestrian crosswalks. That is incredibly concerning.”
Since Gracie’s death, Boston has taken steps to improve pedestrian access in the area of the Boston Children’s Museum, a major draw for families and visitors to the city, according to Mayor Michelle Wu’s office.
“Short term improvements have already been made at this intersection, including daylighting and crosswalk restriping,” Wu’s office said in a statement to the Globe Thursday.
Gracie loved school, idolized her two older sisters, was fiercely competitive, and eager to read. She liked to play kitchen and restaurant, do puzzles, and build Legos. Soccer, gymnastics, and swimming made her happy.
“Gracie was incredibly giving, incredibly sweet, always very curious,” Gancheva, 44, said. “Just the epitome of this sweet, sweet child, always happy, always interested, and engaged, and ambitious.”
Advertisem*nt
Adjusting to life without Gracie has been heart- and soul-wrenching, her parents said.
Gancheva and her husband are both on leave from work, she as a marketing director, he as in-house counsel for a software company. The family is going to grief counseling.
“We’re on Day 60 since this happened, every single day my eyes pop open and I think about the fact that my daughter is dead. And I can’t think any other way. I don’t know when it will stop, if it will ever stop, if it will soften,” Gancheva said.
“We’re still in that stage where we have to find ways to process our grief and put it to use, and this organization makes sure we are thinking of her and doing things in the community that are really positive, and we can say that all of this was not for naught,” Gracie’s father, Andy Newman-Gonchar, 45, said.
Gancheva said she and her three daughters — Gracie, Evelyn, 6, and Eleanor, 10 — were visiting family in North Reading over spring break when tragedy struck.
The only sunny day during their visit was Sunday, March 24, Gancheva said, so she, her mother, and the girls, decided to go to Boston and make “a day of it.” They visited the Boston Children’s Museum, the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, and had lunch at Faneuil Hall, Gancheva said.
Advertisem*nt
Around 5 p.m., they had about 30 minutes to wait until Gancheva’s cousin was going to pick them up and give them a ride home. They decided to walk to a nearby Starbucks for hot chocolate.
Gancheva said they walked east on Congress Street until the sidewalk got really narrow and “nonexistent,” so they crossed Sleeper Street.
Gancheva said she crossed first holding her older daughters’ hands. Gracie crossed with her grandmother. Gracie was struck by the truck as it turned from Congress onto Sleeper, Gancheva said.
“That was the only reason we crossed Sleeper Street,” Gancheva said. “We couldn’t all fit on the sidewalk, so we were forced to cross.”
Gancheva said they “were just outside of the crosswalk,” which was worn out and barely visible.
Gancheva was already across the street when she heard her mother scream for the truck to stop and bang on its window. She said she ran behind the truck, grabbed her bleeding daughter from under one of the wheels, and screamed for help.
Gracie was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital where she was pronounced dead just before 6 p.m.
Gracie was killed in an area that the city had targeted for pedestrian safety upgrades, including a raised sidewalk at the intersection where Gracie was hit, city records show.
“Speed humps have been installed on Sleeper Street. The City is also working on a design for longer term improvements for streets in the area,” the statement said, including a section of A Street, from Congress to Melcher streets.
Advertisem*nt
The statement said the project is slated to be fully announced later this summer with construction expected to begin next spring.
Newman-Gonchar said he’s heartened to see the city take steps to enhance safety at the crash scene but something should have been done sooner.
“One of the things that hurts is that they knew this was a problem area” and failed to do anything until it was too late for Gracie, he said.
“She deserved that chance to live a longer life,” Newman-Gonchar said. “It just seems my daughter didn’t need to be killed for there to be improvements.”
Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.
