Westfield Police Officers Christopher Coach, Michael Gamache and Sgt. Robert Saunders await the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section after a car crashed into a utility pole on Shaker Road Sept 26, 2013. The operator suffered serious injuries and expired later in the day at Baystate Medical Center. (File photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – Four persons died on the city’s streets in 2013 and, although that is four too many, it is one fewer than died in 2012.
Officer Michael Gamache of the Traffic and Safety Bureau of the Westfield Police Department said of the number “That’s like average, unfortunately” and went on to say “I’d be happy with zero.”
The year was only 13 days old when the first fatal crash occurred, on Western Avenue, not far from the scene of a 2012 fatal crash which also involved a bicyclist.
Howard Beardslee, 60, of 14 Old Quarry Road, was riding his bicycle westbound near Scanlon Hall at Westfield State University when a Ford Explorer crossed the fog line and struck the bike.
Although he was reportedly not breathing at the accident scene, he was transported to Noble Hospital.
He was transferred from Noble to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield where he was pronounced dead.
The city did not have another fatal crash until late spring when, on May 20, a seven-year-old boy died in a collision between his bicycle and a dump truck while he was crossing Montgomery Street in a crosswalk with his mother.
Hampden County District Attorney Mark Mastroianni later reported that the boy, Michael Ryan, stopped before crossing the street and that the driver used “evasive measures” before striking the child.
The next fatal crash in the city did not occur until late in the summer when a pedestrian was struck, on Aug. 16 , while crossing Main Street near his home.
Daniel R. McBeth, 58, of 180 Main St., apparently had been crossing the street when he was struck by a car which had been operating eastbound and, according to the operator’s report to police, swerved when another eastbound vehicle veered into his lane.
McBeth survived the crash and was transported to Baystate Medical Center but succumbed to his injuries and died a few days later.
The third fatal crash occurred on Sept. 26 following a vehicular chase which ended in a crash on Shaker Road.
A State Police trooper had attempted to stop the vehicle, operated by an unlicensed driver, Glenn R. Madison, 43, on East Silver Street at 6:59 a.m. but the he did not stop and a pursuit ensued.
The trooper broke off the chase, due to safety concerns, but Southwick police spotted the vehicle at 7:25 a.m. and again the operator failed to stop and fled from the Southwick officer.
A Westfield officer spotted the fleeing vehicle turn from Southwick Road on to Tannery Road but backed off his pursuit because of the suspect’s speed on Shaker Road and soon found that the vehicle had struck a utility pole and the operator had been ejected from the car.
Madison was severely injured, city police reported at the time, and was transported to the major trauma center at Baystate Medical Center where he expired.
Because the city police were involved in the crash, State Police investigated the accident.
The last fatal crash was a fluke event which killed a Southampton man.
Edward Nied, 63, of 14 Duggan Lane, Southampton, had been riding his motorcycle to work on the morning of Nov. 6 when it was struck by a black bear which emerged from the east side of the roadway and ran into the motorcycle, striking it broadside and sending Nied out of control and tumbling from the motorcycle.
Nied was transported to Baystate Medical Center and admitted in critical condition but died two days later due to his injuries.
In Southwick, only one person died due to traffic accidents in 2013.
A Southwick resident, Haley Tierney, 22, of East Granby, Conn., was the front seat passenger in a vehicle which crashed about 1:30 a.m. on Granville Road Jan. 21 when the westbound car crossed the center line, left the opposite side of the road and collided with trees before coming to rest.
The operator of the vehicle was transported by air to Baystate Medical Center where she was admitted. A second passenger was transported to the hospital by conventional ambulance for treatment on non-life-threatening injuries.
