Homeless Man in Critical Condition After Being Hit on I-393

CONCORD, NH - The wheelchair bound homeless man hit by a car on I-393 last night is in serious condition at Concord Hospital, after he was struck on the side of the road due to the sidewalks not being plowed.

Gene Parker, 62, of Concord, was hit at around 7 p.m. on Jan. 28, 2016, on the eastbound side of I-393 between North Main and South Commercial streets. Timothy O’Malley, the commander of the criminal investigations unit, confirmed his identity to media outlets this morning.

Parker, after being hit, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

According to O’Malley, the operator of the vehicle, a woman in her 50s, struck Parker while he was in his wheelchair. She was not injured in the crash. Neither alcohol nor drugs appear to be factors. O’Malley noted that investigators also had no initial indications of drug or alcohol issues with Parker.

The investigation is ongoing, he noted.

Sidewalk problems

According to friends of Parker, there were others walking behind him after getting him up the hill on South Commercial Street, which is also not plowed.

According to notes on the Concord NH Patch Facebook site and other acquaintances of Parker’s, he does not have complete legs and lost more of his legs in surgery last night. He also has two collapsed lungs after the accident, according to sources.

Snowplowing issues on the sidewalk on I-393 and Concord streets around The Friendly Kitchen have been issues for years mostly based on governmental responsibility for plowing those areas.

The section where Parker was hit is the state’s responsibility, according to city officials, even though the NH DOT doesn’t own any plowing equipment to clear sidewalks around I-393. The area runs about the equivalent of two city blocks. There are also jurisdictional issues over whether or not South Commercial Street between I-393 and Constitution Avenue – which has a steep incline which already difficult to navigate even if it is properly cleared – is an exit of I-393 or a city street. Google maps and police have it as a street; in the past, drivers used to be able to cross I-393 on both sides of Commercial Street. The city considers it an exit of I-393.

Many people who are assisting the homeless in Concord have been complaining about the lack of cleared sidewalks for a while now.

About this time three years ago, Kevin Curdie, who passed away last year after a fire at his apartment on Rumford Street, raised the issue of snow not being cleared by either government entity (his photo from January 2013 is posted on the right of the graphic included in this post).

Curdie noted – repeatedly – to the media and city officials that this “no man’s land” had been a problem for years even before The Friendly Kitchen was built, with “monster snow banks/drifts” although no one used it much since the soup kitchen was not there.

The Friendly Kitchen, according to Planning Board site plan review information, made an agreement with the city before it was constructed that it would work with the state to maintain the I-393 and South Commercial Street/exit sidewalks. The first year after the soup kitchen was built, they were cleared; but in future years, they haven’t been cleared by the state or the nonprofit.

City officials committed to maintaining all of the other sidewalks along Constitution Avenue and Commercial Street on the north side of I-393, as part of The Friendly Kitchen’s site plan review, due to the lesser grade and easier accessibility. It is, however, about a half mile longer to navigate by wheelchair.

The city has also purchased property along Storrs Street to, at some point in the future, extend the street along the railroad tracks and then cross over to The Friendly Kitchen. This new extension will also have sidewalks and ADA compliance. Currently, patrons of the soup kitchen can easily walk in the area that has been cleared but it is not graded or ADA compliant.

Concord NH Patch will update this post when more information becomes available.