Hit-and-run driver prosecuted for I-495 antique car crash

Jill Harmacinski |, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
·2 min read

Feb. 6—LAWRENCE — The man described himself as a Christian, saying he hadn't slept in three days.

He told Ralph Arabian how he saw the red Cadillac SUV crash into Arabian's antique, 1956 Plymouth Belvedere on Interstate 495 south and then take off.

So he followed the Cadillac to Methuen and took down the address. After a story about the crash ran in The Eagle-Tribune, the man turned over his info on the hit and run driver to Arabian.

"That's how we found her," explained Arabian, of Andover.

Bertha Young, 44, of Methuen, recently pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident causing both personal injury and property damage. She was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution to Arabian, according to District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office.

Arabian said it's cost him roughly $11,500 to fix his antique, mint green Belvedere.

The hit-and-run crash attracted quite a bit of attention on April 25, 2021. It was around 10:50 a.m. and Arabian was heading home on I-495 south to Andover after a cruise to the beach.

It was raining and Arabian, a retired mechanical engineer and self-described "car guy," said he was driving carefully in the left lane at about 55 mph.

Suddenly, a car passed him on the left, sideswiped him and caught the front fender and bumper. His Plymouth spun out and hit the guardrail.

He ended up in the middle lane on the highway, with the front of the Plymouth heavily damaged. Two men in a Budd Van Lines box truck pulled up directly behind him in a safety move.

"They stopped right behind me for protection," said Arabian, after the crash.

After the crash, Arabian said he found a junkyard in California that was able to supply him with the parts he needed to repair the front end of the antique car.

"I've got it all back together again. You would never know it had been in an accident," said Arabian this week.

He also praised the man who came forward with the information about the other driver. The man, he said, wishes to remain anonymous.

"I am eternally grateful to him," Arabian said.

Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.