![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/mbtabus.jpg\")
Thomas\n Northington, a long-unemployed and homeless artist, was alone and adrift
\n on the streets of Boston when he somehow ended up
\n under the
\n wheels of an MBTA bus he had just been thrown off of for not having the
\n full fare. Suddenly, there were two competing bidders to claim
\n the body – a sister from Kentucky and a previously unknown son from nearby
\n Brockton. Suspicion
\n abounds that the newfound familial competition to claim the body may
\n be more about claiming the right to sue the MBTA…..<\/em> <\/p>\n
Northington, 59, had been disabled and homeless, living in shelters,
\n seemingly detached from any family. Two weeks ago, he was struck and
\n killed as he tried to board an MBTA bus in downtown Boston. Witnesses
\n said the bus driver turned Northington away because he didn’t have enough
\n change. As the bus pulled away, Northington, carrying a pair of crutches
\n and a bag full of clothes, was somehow pulled underneath the rear tires.
\n He was killed instantly.<\/p>\n
33-year-old Thomas Leslie told police that he and Northington were just
\n getting getting reacquainted after years of little to no contact. "He
\n wasn’t named on my birth certificate," said Leslie, who wants to
\n be declared the next of kin. He said he is willing to submit to a DNA
\n test and has
\n asked that tissue and blood samples be taken from Northington.<\/p>\n
Just a few days before Northington’s death, the two were making plans
\n for Christmas, Leslie said. "I wish we had more time," Leslie
\n said, quietly sobbing. "He was just starting to accept us, wanting
\n to get to know my family."<\/p>\n
Growing up, Leslie said, his relationship with his father consisted of
\n occassional phone calls and a visit here and there. "My mother met
\n my father after he moved here from Kentucky, more than 30 years ago," he
\n said. "They had a six-year relationship, but they never married."<\/p>\n
Leslie added: "I remember every conversation we had, from my childhood
\n to adulthood. He ended it by saying, `I love you.’ So I know I don’t
\n have to prove anything. I know he loved me."<\/p>\n
But all this is news to Northington’s sister Kathleen Huddleston and to her Boston nieces and nephews,
\n who said they were in contact with their uncle Tommy on a regular basis.
\n No one knew about Leslie.<\/p>\n
from the Boston Globe<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thomas Northington, a long-unemployed and homeless artist, was alone and adrift on the streets of Boston when he somehow ended up under the wheels of an MBTA bus he had just been thrown off of for not having the full … Continue reading