DEERFIELD — A man was taken to Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield shortly after noon Friday after his vehicle crashed into the Old Deerfield Country Store’s wooden roadside sign at 480 Greenfield Road.
The operator, driving a Snow & Sons Landscaping pickup truck towing a trailer, was the vehicle’s lone occupant, according to Deerfield Police Chief John P. Paciorek Jr., who did not know the condition of the victim around 1 p.m. Paciorek said the 911 call was made at 12:01 p.m.
The chief said the accident was likely the result of a medical episode. Emergency medical personnel could be seen attempting to resuscitate the man before he was taken away by ambulance.
The man’s identity has not been made public. The Deerfield Police Department deferred comment to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
Nancy Sadoski, the owner of the Old Deerfield Country Store, said the crash wiped out the 6-by-4 redwood sign out front as well as a tent she was using in an attempt to sell some small miscellaneous items the business has accumulated over the past couple of years. She said the items included puzzles and little toys, and she planned to donate the proceeds to Relay For Life, but she was more concerned about the crash victim.
Sadoski said she was upstairs in her office and heard the crash.
“It sounded like a tractor-trailer had lost its load somehow,” she said, staring at the damage. “It was a horrific, horrific sound.”
Employee Kate Szczepanski was behind the counter at the time of the accident and heard “a smash.” She said she called 911 before handing the phone to her boss. She also said emergency personnel asked her to bring out towels because the victim was bleeding badly.
“That poor man. That’s all I can say,” she said. “That poor man.”
New Hampshire resident Brianna Maroni said she was traveling north behind the victim for about 2 miles before the crash.
“He was driving perfectly fine. There was no swerving, no nothing. And then he just veered right off the road,” she said. “There was no brakes, no speeding up. I think he might have had a medical emergency before he went off the road.”
“It happened so quick,” she added. “It’s crazy.”
Maroni said she initially proceeded past the crash and pulled over once she mentally processed what she had seen. A physical therapy assistant employed by Cooley Dickinson VNA & Hospice, she grabbed her medical bag and ran to the crash.
She said she helped police guide the victim from the vehicle. She said the victim was foaming at the mouth and bleeding from an ear. Maroni was coming from one patient’s house in South Deerfield to another’s in Greenfield when the crash occurred.
She said she comforted a 7-year-old girl who was shaken up after witnessing the accident.
“I’m sure this is going to stick with her,” she said. “She saw the whole thing.”
As Maroni returned to the vehicle she had been driving, she was overcome with emotion and was consoled by a stranger, who possibly works at a nearby gas station/convenience store. Maroni and the woman embraced and exchanged words as Maroni cried.
“She was just a wonderful woman who saw that I was in distress and gave me a nice hug,” Maroni said. “She was just an angel. Sometimes we need those.”
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-772-0261, ext. 262.