State Police Investigating Fatal Crash in Plainville; Troopers Pulled Victim from Burning Car

Massachusetts State Troopers made valiant effort to save the life of a motorist who crashed into an embankment in the median of Route 495 south in Plainville this morning. Sadly, the motorist did not survive.

At approximately 3:45 AM, patrols out of the State Police-Foxboro Barracks responded to multiple calls reporting both a vehicle fire and a brush fire on Route 495 south at mile marker 35.2 in Plainville. Upon arrival, Troopers found a 2008 BMW 328 with a Rhode Island registration down an embankment in the center median. The vehicle was in several feet of water and its driver’s side was engulfed in flames.

Trooper Bianca Vargas and Trooper Matthew Higgins jumped into the embankment and located the male operator in the passenger side of the car, face down in water. Meanwhile, Trooper Grant Gadbois began suppressing the flames with a fire extinguisher.

Troopers Vargas and Higgins pulled the operator (the lone occupant of the vehicle) out of the passenger side of the car. The Troopers then pulled the victim up to a higher part of the embankment with the assistance of two Good Samaritans who had stopped at the scene. Troopers Vargas and Gadbois began taking turns performing CPR on the victim for several minutes. Plainville EMS then arrived on scene, took over CPR and transported the victim to Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro.

The victim, identified as Sage A. Woodward, 23, of Pawtucket, R.I., was pronounced deceased a short time after arrival at the hospital.

One Trooper at the scene suffered a laceration to his hand and was treated at Sturdy.

The crash remains under investigation by the State Police-Foxboro Barracks with assistance from the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, State Police Crime Scene Services Section, and State Police Troop H Detective Unit. Preliminary investigation suggests that the BMW struck the guardrail on the right side of the road, causing it to veer left across all three travel lanes into the median.

The left and center lane of the highway were closed for more than three hours to accommodate the rescue response and investigation. The scene was cleared at 7 AM.

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