Newton Restaurant, Site of Deadly March Crash, to Reopen This Summer: Report

NEWTON, MA - A West Newton restaurant will reopen this summer, months after a deadly car crash killed two customers and left seven patrons and employees injured.

According to a report from the WBZ I-Team the Sweet Tomatoes on Washington Street will open its doors after the restaurant is reconstructed.

In addition, the City plans to install protective barriers, known as bollards, along the sidewalk.

WBZ reported shortly after the accident that concrete barriers lining the sidewalk stopped just short of the restaurant storefront. Following the crash, the owners of Sweet Tomatoes asked the city to put barriers in place to protect the restaurant; a spokesman for the City of Newton told WBZ that those would be installed.

In the meantime temporary barriers will be put into place before the restaurant's reopening, which could happen as soon as July, WBZ reported.

• See also: Driver in Newton Crash Identified, Has Spotty Record: Report
• Newton Crash Survivor Out of Surgery and Recovering
• Newton Crash: Two Killed at Restaurant Identified

Two people died and seven were injured after an SUV failed to stop coming down Chestnut Street and smashed through the front of the Sweet Tomatoes on March 1.

Eleanor Miele, 57, of Watertown, and Gregory Morin, 32, of Newton, were killed in the crash.

The driver of the SUV was later identified by the Boston Globe as 55-year-old Bradford Casler, a Newton resident.

Casler has reportedly still not been formally charged as the investigation into the accident remains open.

>>>Read the full report from the WBZ I-Team here.<<<

Photo Credit: WHDH, 7-News