HADLEY — A 25-year-old Springfield man was killed after the vehicle he was driving went off Mill Valley Road into a tree Thursday shortly before 2 a.m., according to the Northwestern district attorney’s office.
The crash occurred in the vicinity of 143 Mill Valley Road as the vehicle, traveling east toward Amherst, was navigating a sharp curve.
Prior to the crash, a Hadley police officer observed the vehicle make a wide turn onto Mill Valley Road from Route 9, briefly leaving the pavement and driving over grass. The officer then attempted to catch up to the vehicle, before observing it fail to stop at the stop sign at the intersection of Mill Valley Road and South Maple Street.
From his distance of about one-quarter mile behind the suspect, the officer activated his cruiser’s lights in an attempt to stop the vehicle, but the vehicle then accelerated out of view, according to the DA’s office. The officer came upon the crash scene and immediately sought fire and ambulance services to respond.
The driver and lone occupant was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel at around 2:20 a.m., according to the DA’s office.
The crash is being investigated by Hadley Police along with Massachusetts State Police Detectives attached to the Northwestern district attorney’s office, State Police Crime Scene Services Section and the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
