Hit and run driver damaged veterans cemetery

EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - A hit and run driver damaged a veteran's cemetery early Sunday morning.

The flags are still up around Easthampton from Veterans Day just a week before, but part of the Veterans cemetery has been knocked down.

Ed Moczulewski is a veteran himself and lives next door to the cemetery and watched as the driver destroyed a sacred place. “It's for Veterans, I think it's too bad because he ruined a bunch of grave sites in there,” said Moczulewski.

Ed said he first heard the car crash into the street sign then watched it pull away crashing over the bushes and into the cemetery.

Moczulewski said he went to go check on the driver to see if he was ok but instead was almost ran over as the person drove off.

Police were at the cemetery Sunday when 22News was there looking over the damage.

This Main Street cemetery keeps the graves of soldiers dating back to the Revolutionary War.

Neighbors and veterans say they’re upset by the disrespect. “If I was somebody's family and I had somebody buried there I'd feel pretty bad about it that they desecrated somebody's grave site and everything else,” said Moczulewski.

Rebecca Kessler of Easthampton said, “Well I just think it's pretty disrespectful, it probably was somebody who was drunk and has no care that there's people buried here and not only people, veterans.”

No headstones were destroyed but these are plots of land where veterans are buried.