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August 3, 2007

Update: 2 Mass. men victims of Smithfield crash

Journal photo / Bill Murphy
Workers clear the wreckage from Route 295 north this morning following a fatal accident just past the Farnum Pike overpass that closed the highway for almost four hours.

SMITHFIELD -- The police this evening identified the two men killed in a horrific accident on Route 295 north this morning as Shawn M. Sullivan and Daniel Joyce, both of Bellingham, Mass.

Sullivan, 26, of 29 Pond St. and Joyce, 25, of 45 Rondeau Rd., were both thrown from a pickup truck they were in. Police may never know for certain which of them was driving and which was the passenger.

Joyce landed in the highway and was struck by several vehicles, including an 18-wheeler, after the initial crash, state police Capt. Raymond S. White said. Joyce landed on the grassy right edge of the highway.

The state police closed a stretch of the highway for nearly four hours, White said. Evidence at the scene indicates that excessive speed may have been a factor, White said.

The accident, which was reported at 4:09 a.m., closed the highway between Exit 7, which is Route 44, and Exit 8, which is Route 7.

The state Department of Transportation reported the highway opened at 7:55 a.m. Route 295 southbound remained open.

At about 7:20 a.m., what appeared to be a pickup truck split in two lay on a flatbed truck. A crane helped clear the debris from the highway just north of the Route 104 (Farnum Pike) overpass.

Skid marks perhaps 100 feet long begin in the center lane of Route 295. Those marks were from the vehicles attempting to avoid striking the man who lay in the road, White said. It appears that one vehicle was in the far left lane and swerved into the center lane, where the marks begin, and then off into the right lane of the three-lane stretch of highway.

The Toyota pickup truck carrying the two men landed off the right side of the highway, down a gulley, where it struck a cliff wall, White said.

-- projo.com staff writers Kate Bramson and Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer John Hill and Journal photographer Bill Murphy

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:45 PM | Permalink

Comments

Dan Sullivan | August 7, 2007 2:22 AM link

Mary Ann Joyce | August 9, 2007 11:43 AM link

Dave Manning | September 8, 2007 12:22 AM link

Hal | October 17, 2007 8:47 PM link

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