Colleagues Set Up Fund For Hit-and-Run Victim

The Harvard police department has established a fund in behalf of a University security guard who was the victim of a hit-and-run accident earlier this month.

Twenty-eight-year-old Richard Fogarty is currently listed in serious condition at Massachusetts General Hospital's Redstone Burn Center. More than half of his body is covered with burns suffered after he was struck by a sky-blue car just after midnight on the morning of July 10. Fogarty was riding his moped to his Dedham residence after work, when he was hit on the corner of Cambridge St. and Mass Ave. in Central Square.

Under the terms of his contract covering disability, as of August Fogarty will not receive pay for six months, after which time he will be entitled to 60 percent of his salary, said Robert Dowling, the operations manager for the Harvard University Police Department's securities department.

Dowling, who is handling all contributions, said the fund's primary purpose is to provide financial support for Fogarty during the months he will not receive pay. A benefit dance to be held at the Law School's Pound Hall in early October has also been scheduled, Dowling said.

A Cambridge police officer on the scene helped Fogarty when the incident occurred, but the officer did not obtain license plate information about the vehicle which struck Fogarty.

"She was walking her beat and covered the situation quite thoroughly. This individual running around in flames was her first priority," said Inspector Frank L. Calogero, who is handling the case for the Cambridge Police Department.

Calogero said the investigation is stalled without information on the car's tags, and said he is "groping in the dark."

He added, however, that he has run a check on all cars in the area which received tickets that night, and will be questioning some of the owners.