Boston's Public Service Commission ruled the accident to be the fault of Walsh for failing to stop at the posted sign, but noted that such signs were hard to notice and that many drawbridges lacked them entirely. Walsh went on trial for manslaughter in October 1917, with witnesses differing on many aspects of the accident. The bridge tenders claimed the required red lantern had been hung on the gate to warn streetcars of the open bridge, but Walsh claimed he saw no such lantern. Some questioned how the glass lantern had survived the impact of the trolley with the gates, which broke a iron post in two; they alleged that the bridge tenders may have actually hung it after the accident. Walsh was declared not guilty, but he never ran a streetcar again and died around 1932 at age 41. McKeon died in combat in France in July 1918.
