image description

Victim in Fatal Dragging Identified as Pittsfield Man

Print Story | Email Story
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Police are searching for a suspect in a fatal hit-and-run on Tuesday. 
 
The victim was identified on Wednesday as William S. Colbert, 69, of Pittsfield.
 
His body was found nearly four miles away from where he was reportedly struck. 
 
The initial report was that someone was in the road, possibly struck by a motor vehicle, at the intersection of Linden Street and Francis Avenue at about 11:33 p.m.
 
According to the report filed by Sgt. David Hallas, officers were unable to locate either a victim or a vehicle at the intersection. They spoke with witnesses and canvassed the area. 
 
They found him in the road in the 1350 block of West Housatonic Street near the Best Western hotel. 
 
The victim was deceased. 
 
The investigation is pointing to the victim being struck at the Linden Street intersection and then trapped under the vehicle and dragged "to a final resting place" on West Housatonic. 
 
The driver of the vehicle fled the scene and is wanted by police. The car was described as a sedan, possibly a dark colored Toyota or Honda. 
 
It may have traveled on Linden Street, Robbins Avenue, Daniels Avenue, Columbus Avenue, Onota Street, South Merriam Street and West Housatonic. 
 
Police are asking that any information including footage from security cameras from between 11:33 and 11:49 p.m. be forwarded to dhallas@cityofpittsfield.org or adayton@cityofpittsfield.org or arrangements made for pickup. 
 
Hallas and Officer Anthony Dayton can also be reached 413-448-9700, Ext. 543 for Dayton and Ext. 560 for Hallas. 

Tags: fatal,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Pittsfield Schools See Better Building Utilization, Continued Choice Outs

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Students return to school in two weeks; Pittsfield will have one less elementary school and around 100 fewer students. 

The School Committee was updated on enrollment for the 2026-2027 academic year during last week's regular meeting. 

At this time, the Pittsfield Public Schools had 4,586 students, compared to 4,682 at the end of the 2025-2026 school year. Superintendent Latifah Phillips said this has been the district's trend for years and is not surprising. 

"Across all of these grade levels, we have a decrease. I believe of about 80-90 students. I think it's at eighth grade that we're going to look into and make sure that our data is accurate," she said to the School Committee last week. 

"But otherwise, the enrollment is following the trends that we have expected in probably the last decade." 

With this school year comes the closure of Morningside Community School and the middle school restructuring that sends Grades 5-6 to Herberg Middle School and Grades 7-8 to Reid Middle School. 

Fifth grade enrollment was subtracted from last year's elementary enrollment, and these reflect the reassignment of Morningside students to Allendale, Capeless, Egremont, and Williams. 

Phillips pointed out that this process has increased the use of school buildings, as underutilized buildings were one of the concerns that led to institutional changes. 

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories