Cape Cod Car Crash Kills Recent Yale Graduate

As a Dedham-Boston car accident attorney, I’ve heard more than one story about a Massachusetts car accident that caused a fatality. And now, there’s yet another Massachusetts car crash that took the life of a young student who had just graduated from Yale University, in the class of 2012.

Marina Keegan was killed last week in a Cape Cod car accident that occurred on Route 6 in Dennis. She and her boyfriend, Michael Gocksch, also a member of the Yale class of 2012, were headed to Wellfleet, to the Keegans’ summer home, for a birthday party for her father. Apparently, Mr. Gocksch fell asleep at the wheel, and the car veered off the road, into guardrails on both sides of Route 6, and then flipped over. Mr. Gocksch was hospitalized, in stable condition, and was later discharged. State Police said that speed wasn’t a factor.

Apparently, the news of Ms. Keegan’s death went viral, as she wrote a newspaper column for the Yale Daily News. In her last column, she wrote, “What we have to remember is that we can still do anything.” The column drew a huge outpouring of grief and sympathy for the young graduate. Her ashes were to be strewn in Cape Cod Bay.

My sympathies go out to the family of Ms. Keegan, especially her parents. It is certainly a tragedy for them to know that their dearest daughter, so young and so bright, had her life taken so suddenly, when she had everything to look forward to and had a tremendously bright future. Ms. Keegan was to begin a job as an assistant to the general counsel of The New Yorker magazine.

What can be said fo such a tragedy? As a Boston injury attorney, I can tell you that with the summer approaching, especially with the typical heavy traffic down the Cape, it’s more important than ever to drive safely, so that you never have to be confronted with a Massachusetts motor vehicle accident or suffer a serious car accident injury. Don’t drive when you are tired, wear your seatbelt, and drive defensively. Should you find yourself — or a loved one — to be a victim of a Massachusetts personal injury, contact an experienced Massachusetts injury lawyer.