Police/Fire

Charges filed in fatal crash

HOWARD M. BEARDSLEE

HOWARD M. BEARDSLEE

WESTFIELD – The operator of a 2007 Ford Explorer which struck and killed a bicyclist on Western Avenue in January has been arraigned in Westfield District Court on charges including vehicular homicide by negligent operation.
The crash occurred minutes before noon on Sunday, Jan. 13, when Howard M. Beardslee, 60, of 14 Old Quarry Road was pedaling his bicycle inside the fog lane in the area of Westfield State University.
Officer Michael Gamache of the Westfield Police Traffic Bureau reports, in a document filed in district court in support of his criminal complaint, that the operator of the Ford, Brian M. Benoit, 32, of 195 Woodland Way, Russell, said that he had been operating westbound on Western Avenue near the university when a vehicle traveling in front of his turned into the WSU entrance.
He reports the man said that “he blinked and the next thing he knew there was a bicycle in front of him close to the fog line.”
Gamache’s investigation found that Benoit’s vehicle “drifted over to the right, crossing over the white painted fog line on the roadway, striking bicyclist Howard Beardslee.”
Benoit told Gamace that, after the impact, Beardslee “came up on the hood” as he was braking.
Gamache found that the SUV struck a utility pole and continued for a short distance before it came to rest with the bicycle lodged under the front of the vehicle.
Beardslee was reportedly not breathing at the scene of the crash and was transported by ambulance to Noble Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
He had been the owner and manager of Restore-it Inc., a fire and water damage restoration company, for 15 years.
Gamache charged Benoit under Chapter 90 Section 24G(b) of the Massachusetts General Laws which provides for a sentence upon conviction of incarceration for not less than 30 days nor more than two and half years and/or a fine of at least $300 and less than $3,000. In addition, the Registry of Motor Vehicles would be directed to revoke his driver’s license for 15 years.
He was also charged with a marked lanes violation, a civil infraction.

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