A man was killed in a car crash on early Monday after his Toyota Camry crashed with a tractor-trailer on the Massachusetts Turnpike, latching onto the vehicle, officials said.
Massachusetts State Police troopers responded around 1:50 a.m to the accident on the ramp from the eastbound lanes of the Mass. Pike at Exit 123 in Weston, according to officials.
The 2002 Toyota Camry was moving east on the highway when it entered the exit ramp, straddling both lanes of traffic, state police said in a statement.
The 2019 Freightliner tractor-trailer was moving in the same direction as the Camry in the left lane of the ramp when the front driver’s side of the Toyota struck the right rear of the automobile, causing the car to ride partially under the trailer.
“The tractor-trailer and Toyota continued to travel a short distance together before the Toyota broke free of the trailer,” state police said. “The truck stopped in the left lane, and the Toyota came to rest in the right lane just beyond it.”
The man who was driving the Camry was trapped in the vehicle with critical injuries. A Facebook post from the Weston Fire Department noted that: “at approximately 0204hrs this morning E3,A2 and Car 3 were dispatched to the Mass Pike EB on the ramp to 128 (Exit 123 formally 14) for an MVA with injuries.”
Weston firefighters used the Jaws of Life to pry open the car and evacuate the driver, who was admitted to Newton-Wellesley Hospital and later pronounced dead, according to officials. He was identified as a 30-year-old Ashland resident. Authorities have yet to reveal his name.
“Our thoughts are with the victim’s family during this difficult time,” the fire department wrote in its post.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, a 39-year-old man from Frankfort, New York, was not injured, officials said. The vehicle has a New York registration.
The ramp to Exit 123 was shut down for roughly two and a half hours after the fatal crash for making the way for the rescue response and crash investigation.
The reason behind the crash remains under investigation.
