A 26-year-old woman who had sustained serious injuries after she was struck by a vehicle Thursday night on Hayden Rowe Street died on Saturday, according to a Facebook post from her mother Sunday morning and confirmed by Hopkinton’s police chief.
“Sadly, yes, she died yesterday,” HPD Chief Joseph Bennett wrote in an email to the Independent on Sunday afternoon.
Tracy Decoff previously identified herself on Facebook as the victim’s mother and has been posting updates on her daughter’s status for the past few days.
Destini Decoff was hit by a vehicle in what officials called “an apparent road rage incident” in the vicinity of Cornell’s Irish Pub Thursday night at around 6:25 p.m. After Destini was on life support and had multiple surgeries, Tracy posted on Facebook Sunday morning that her daughter had succumbed to her injuries.
“Today my biggest fear as a mother became my reality,” Tracy stated. “My first born child & best friend is no longer with me.”
Her Facebook post displayed Destini’s final handprint, which her mother requested be taken with the help of a nurse. A print-out of Destini’s heartbeat was placed in a glass bottle.
Tracy expressed gratitude toward the staff at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, where Destini was taken Thursday night after being struck by a man driving a Honda Civic, according to a preliminary investigation. The driver, Ryan Sweatt, 36, was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, operating to endanger and a marked lanes violation at a hearing in Framingham District Court Friday. Sweatt was ordered held without bail until a dangerousness hearing later this week. It is unclear whether the charges against Sweatt will be upgraded in light of Destini’s death.
“I know from working in the medical field you are supposed to hold in your emotions,” Destini’s mother wrote on Facebook. “All the doctors, all different types of trauma surgeons were amazing. The anesthesiologist cried with me saying how sorry she was. Those trauma ICU nurses are unmatched by no other!”
She added: “So many of them said we can tell underneath all her injuries she [was] a pretty girl.”
A nurse from Medway who was working at the hospital told Tracy that Destini was popular in Medway, according to a Facebook post, saying, “Medway loves her.”
In a separate post, Tracy made a final vow to her daughter.
“You know I don’t break promises & i promise you with every ounce of my being I will get justice for you regardless of what it takes!,” she stated. “Go spread those beautiful wings & fly without pain & suffering … as our family says, see ya love ya.”
In response to Destini’s death, Bennett shared information from the Hopkinton Police Department and the Hopkinton Youth & Family Services providing important resources for any members of the public who may have witnessed or had been in the area when this incident occurred on Route 85.
Witnessing, hearing about, or continuous press coverage of a potentially traumatic event in one’s community can have lingering physical and psychological effects.
Hopkinton Youth & Family Services can be reached at 508-497-9781. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health or emotional crisis, please call 800-640-5432 to speak to an advocates crisis clinician. Clinicians are available 24 hours a day, every day.
Access helpful resources from Riverside Trauma Center:
Reactions to Highly Stressful or Potentially Traumatic Events
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