A well-known Whitman business owner was killed Wednesday morning when he was struck by an SUV near his South Avenue business.

James McGrath, 49, the owner of Suburban Service Center, was taken by ambulance to Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The scene of Wednesday's accident on South Avenue.

McGrath was struck by a white 2008 Jeep Liberty around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning as he walked across South Avenue, in front of the railroad tracks. 

Whitman police identified the driver of the Jeep as Linda Bean, 60, of Pembroke. As of Wednesday morning, police were still investigation the accident and no charges had been filed against Bean, according to Police Chief Christine May-Stafford.

McGrath was well known to the clerks at Regal Mart, a busy one stop shop where customers often get coffee and morning papers.

Employees ran outside to find out what happened when they heard the commotion, according to a clerk who asked not to be identified.

One employee said she ran outside to see if she could help.  She said she recognized the victim saying he had just come from the store and could not believe what she saw.

She was visibly shaken only moments after the accident and said “I feel awful, terrible, and sad.  I would not want to be the woman driving the vehicle. I feel so bad.  I feel bad for both of them.  An accident is an accident.”

Witnesses at the scene described a lot of confusion after the accident.  Several whom did not see the accident said they knew McGrath.

They quickly realized he was gravely injured as the scene erupted with Whitman Fire-Rescue, Whitman Police, and later, State Police and a Plymouth County Sheriff BCI photo reconstruction team, which closed the busy stretch of road for the majority of the morning.

Alisha Rodriquez, an employee of Sure Shine, a car wash that sits only a few hundred feet from the accident scene at the corner of Raynor and South Avenues said she did not see the accident but received an early call from a friend advising her that the road was blocked at her work.

“I walk to work so I was not sure if I could go through I just saw a puddle of blood and clothes,” Rodriguez said. “This is a very busy area. The ambulance had already left when I got here.”