By Brendan Connolly
MANCHESTER — Collision reconstruction specialists were checking and photographing a portion of Route 128 near the Wenham line yesterday, examining the scene of a crash that claimed the life of a 24-year-old Manchester man early Thursday morning.
Skid marks remained visible yesterday in the northbound lanes where the man drove his 2004 Audi over the passing lane guardrail just north of Exit 17, and slammed into trees in the center median.
But authorities yesterday still had not released the name of the victim of the one-car, single-occupant crash. While the man's parents, who were reportedly out of the country, have been notified, police are waiting for a state medical examiner's report positively identifying the body, a Massachusetts State Police spokesman said late yesterday.
Large sections of the guardrail were seen bent and twisted in footage captured by video crews the morning of the accident. Authorities said the man was ejected from the vehicle upon impact and was pronounced dead at the scene. State highway crews repaired the rail later that morning.
State police have indicated that speed appears to have been a factor in the crash, but they have added it will be "a couple of days" before they can determine whether alcohol or drugs were involved. The crash remains under investigation, authorities reiterated yesterday.
The probe is being headed by Trooper Michael Sargent, with the assistance of the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section State Police Crime Scene Services Section and state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Brendan Connolly can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3447, or gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com.
