Man in wheelchair seen going down Boston highway for third time in 9 months

BOSTON — For the third time in 9 months Mass. State Police have responded to a man in a wheelchair on a highway. This time it happened on the ramp from I-93 North to 90 East and Kneeland Street in Boston.

And now people who know the man want something done before he gets killed. When a reporter for Boston 25 News showed the video to restaurant workers in Chinatown, they immediately recognized the man in the wheelchair.

"I absolutely felt for him and we try to help in whatever way we could," said one worker. "Especially in the winter any sort of hot drink or leftover pastries will go along way."

The 56-year-old Boston man is also well known to State Police. Troopers escorted him off the I-93 South station ramp when they saw him riding into oncoming traffic around 5 a.m. on Thursday.

"It's making my heart pound," said Ava Khan-McQueen, a clinical therapist at a homeless shelter.

PREVIOUS: Good Samaritans help man in wheelchair trying to travel in O'Neil tunnel

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Back in September Troopers say the homeless man with just one leg was trying to get to Mass General Hospital as he struggled across the Tip O'Neil Tunnel. Back in March, the man was seen a few miles away on the westbound side of the Mass Pike.

Good Samaritans guided him off in both of those scenarios.

"This individual obviously feels like there is not another option," Khan-McQueen said. "He has to get himself from point A to point B and that's the only way he can. I'm wondering who is there to help him."

Khan-McQueen counsels men at a nearby homeless shelter and says he was just with them celebrating Thanksgiving.

"He seemed in pretty good spirits, he came for our Day of Thanks," she said. "What needs to be done [is] he needs to get an advocate […] I think improve accessibility for public transportation, possibly for the homeless and people with disabilities."

Boston 25 News talked to a friend of the man in the wheelchair who said the man is also a veteran. He says he saw him just a couple hours ago and he was doing just fine. He had no idea why he needed to get on the highway at 5 a.m.

Cox Media Group