A Boston art collector was killed during an early morning walk with his dog in what authorities are describing as a hit-and-run, according to police and media reports.
A driver has crashed John Axelrod at the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, a public historic park in Boston, on Saturday, January 3rd. NBC News reported.
the driver, William Haneyhe left after the authorities said so hit Axelrod79, who received medical treatment at the park and later died at a nearby hospital, the Boston Police Department said in a news release.
Axelrod’s dog, Tale, also died as a result of the crash, Boston Police Sgt. Marc Brown confirmed in a statement to Us Weekly on Monday, January 5.
Now Haney, 42, of Boston, is charged with murder and cruelty to animals, according to police.
Information on Haney’s legal representation was not immediately available.
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Axelrod had been walking with a friend and her dogs at the Commonwealth Avenue Mall in the city’s Back Bay neighborhood when authorities allege Haney drove into the green space on Jan. 3. Boston Globe informed
Haney “intentionally” hit Axelrod, prosecutors said, according to the newspaper. A motive, if known, has not been disclosed.
After the crash, police located Haney’s vehicle “unoccupied” in Brookline, a suburb near Boston, authorities said.
Haney was arrested as a result of an investigation involving the Boston Police Department’s Homicide Unit and the Brookline Police Department, according to police. Both agencies worked with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office to make the arrest.
He eventually turned himself in to authorities, NBC News reported.
Axelrod is remembered as a prominent Boston philanthropist who supported the city’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Boston Globe informed
He was “a generous supporter and passionate advocate for underrepresented artists,” the museum said in a statement to the newspaper.
The museum is home to the John Axelrod Collection, which represents nearly 70 pieces of art created by black artists, the museum told the newspaper.
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Reacting to the death of Axelrod, the museum director, Pierre Terjaniantold WCVB-TV that it was “so unexpected.”
“I talked to him on the phone not too long ago and we’re talking about things we would do together,” Terjanian.
“It’s a terrible loss for the museum, for the community that we represent, and he was certainly a champion of causes that we wanted to continue to pursue,” Terjanian added while speaking to the television network.
Axelrod was an honorary adviser to the Museum of Fine Arts and had supported the museum since the 1980s, the museum said in a statement about his death, WCVB-TV reported.
The museum said “his legacy will live on” through the John Axelrod Collection.
“John gave the MFA important collections of 20th-century European decorative arts, including numerous examples of Memphis Group designs and, between 2008 and 2015, some 377 pieces of American modern design from the 1920s and 1930s,” the museum said. “The John Axelrod Gallery in the Art of the Americas Wing, featuring a modern American design, was named in 2009.”
Haney was scheduled to stand trial for Axelrod’s murder on Monday, Jan. 5, according to Boston police.