BELCHERTOWN — Authorities are investigating a single-car crash that took the life of a 51-year-old Belchertown resident on Sunday night, the third fatal motor vehicle crash in Hampshire County in a 72-hour period.
Police responded to Sunday’s crash at 7:45 p.m. on Washington Street. The man was the only person in the vehicle, according to the Northwestern district attorney’s office.
The crash came on the heels of two others last Thursday evening in Northampton and Westhampton.
In Northampton, Jose M. Soto, 62, of Springfield, died shortly before 9 p.m. after two vehicles collided at the intersection of Damon Road and King Street in Northampton. Soto’s vehicle rear-ended another vehicle, pushing it into the intersection. The driver of the other vehicle was not seriously injured. It appears possible that Soto’s death was related to medical event, the district attorney’s office.
About one hour later, a 17-year-old Westfield male was killed in a one-vehicle crash on Southampton Road in Westhampton. He was the sole occupant of the vehicle. Due to his age, authorities are withholding his identity.
All three crashes remain under investigation by State Police. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the causes of death in those accidents.
Responding to the Belchertown crash were the Belchertown Police, State Police detectives attached to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, and troopers with the Crime Scene Services Section and the Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section.