Crime

‘Destini was loved by so many people’: Mother of woman killed in alleged Hopkinton road rage incident speaks out

Destini Decoff, 26, was left severely injured following the alleged road rage incident last Thursday.

By Abby Patkin

updated on April 9, 2024

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The woman struck by a car in an alleged road rage incident in Hopkinton last week has died, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office confirmed.

A spokesperson for the DA’s office identified the woman as 26-year-old Destini Decoff. 

Decoff’s mother confirmed her death in a public post on Facebook shortly after midnight Sunday, writing, “Today my biggest fear as a mother became my reality. My first born child & best friend is no longer with me.”

Tracy Decoff vowed to get justice for Destini, adding, “Go spread those beautiful wings & fly without pain & suffering.” 

She also praised the staff at UMass Memorial Medical Center who cared for her daughter, explaining that an anesthesiologist cried with her, while a nurse helped her make a copy of Destini’s handprints and printed a diagram of her heartbeat to save in a bottle.

“I’m here to give them all the credit they deserve,” Tracy Decoff wrote.

A Milford man, 36-year-old Ryan Sweatt, is accused of striking Decoff with his car on Route 85 Thursday night, leaving her severely injured. 

Ryan and Hopkinton Police Chief Joseph Bennett previously said a preliminary investigation suggested the crash happened after Sweatt became enraged at the occupants of another vehicle. 

“At some point, some of the occupants of the other vehicle, including the victim, exited the car,” Ryan and Bennett said in a press release. “Sweatt subsequently made a U-turn at a high rate of speed and struck the victim in the roadway.”

Sweatt pleaded not guilty to several charges in Framingham District Court Friday, including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and operating to endanger. He was ordered held without bail and is due back in court Wednesday for a detention hearing. It was not immediately clear whether Sweatt had an attorney who could comment on the allegations.

Asked whether Sweatt might face updated or additional charges in light of Decoff’s death, a spokesperson for the DA’s office said the investigation is ongoing.

WBZ video from Sweatt’s arraignment appears to show the Milford man’s shocked reaction as a prosecutor detailed the severity of Decoff’s injuries. 

According to WBZ, Sweatt allegedly told police the car Decoff was in pulled in front of him and slammed on the brakes before several people jumped out of the vehicle and threatened him. However, a witness who spoke with the news station said Sweatt could have kept driving but chose to turn around before he allegedly struck Decoff. 

A GoFundMe to help Decoff’s family with the cost of her final arrangements had raised more than $15,000 as of Tuesday morning.

“Destini was loved by so many people,” Tracy Decoff wrote on Facebook. “The amount of people that didn’t even know her but have been following her story on the news & reaching out to me is comforting. … It shows me humanity still exists in such a sick world that we live in today.”