Mom fights state to keep memorial along median of road

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    MILTON, Massachussets (WCVB) — A Massachusetts mother is fighting the Department of Conservation & Recreation plan to remove a roadside memorial put in place to remember her daughter killed in a crash five years ago.

The memorial, located in the median of Truman Parkway in Milton, was placed there by the mother of Katelisa Etienne, who died in March 2016 after an off-duty Boston Police officer hit her with his Jeep.

Etienne was walking to an after-school program at the time.

The memorial in the center median of the tree-lined road features several crosses, one featuring the name of Etienne, placed on a tree.

A notice was recently placed on the tree ordering the memorial be removed by early June. The notice, placed on the tree, says memorials are prohibited on DCR property.

Etienne’s mother is upset with the DCR’s plans to remove the memorial, saying flashing lights placed at a crosswalk following the crash have not done enough to slow down traffic.

“This is a flashing light, and no one stops,” Anne Etienne, the victim’s mother pleaded. “What’s the purpose of this. Leave the cross. Tell them to just stop driving so fast. They’re killing people on this road.”

DCR regulations prohibit memorials and other signs on DCR property, but it was not immediately clear why the memorial has been allowed to remain in the median of the road for the past five years.

DCR did not immediately reply to WCVB’s request for comment.

No charges were filed against the driver in the crash. State police said the driver was not speeding or distracted at the time of the crash.

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