Driver recounts Rt. 128 fatality

LYNN – State Police are trying to determine how Jose Lopez, 19, of Lynn was struck and killed by a car in the Beverly section of Route 128 Saturday evening.David Roche, 51, of Ashland was driving on Route 128 North at 8:32 p.m. near the Brimbal Avenue exit when he struck Lopez.”He came running out of the woods like someone was chasing him,” Roche said in an interview with the Item Tuesday evening, adding the teenager ran directly into moderate traffic traveling on 128.”My sister was riding next to me and by the time she said, ‘there’s a guy,’ he was in front of my windshield. She couldn’t have said the words fast enough.”Roche did not see anyone with Lopez. He and his sister were not injured.Lopez’ brother, Augusto, met with Goodrich Funeral Home representatives Monday. The state Medical Examiner was not scheduled to release Lopez’ body to his family and the funeral home until today. A brief service is planned with burial in Guatemala.Troopers assigned to the State Police Danvers barracks closed northbound lanes of 128 for two hours while Beverly and Danvers police officers helped them investigate the accident.This crash remains under investigation with the assistance of the State Police Crime Scene Services Section, Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section and Essex State Police detectives.