The Jeep Cherokee at the scene of the crash.
CAVENDISH — A Ludlow man was killed on Route 103 in Cavendish between Greven Field and Route 131 when he ran head-on into a tractor trailer truck at about 5:30 p.m. Monday.
According to State Police, Brenton Stilwell, 29, of Ludlow, was heading north on Route 103 in a Jeep Cherokee, and Robert Morris, 52, of Panton, was headed south driving a McDermotts Milk tractor trailer.
Stilwell’s Jeep crossed the center line and drove head on into Morris’s truck, police said. Paramedics tried to revive Stilwell at the scene, then he was taken to Springfield Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Morris was uninjured.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
According to State Trooper Tom Williams, the Jeep Cherokee was not registered to the driver involved in the crash while the tractor trailer belonged to McDermotts Milk of Enosburg Falls.
Paramedics were on the scene trying to resuscitate the driver of the Jeep Cherokee and the driver of the milk truck was not injured.
The crash happened at a nearby vacant grocery store on the north side of the highway. The entire front section of the Jeep Cherokee was ripped off and the tractor trailer lost several tires before it skidded to a complete stop.
Debris from both vehicles was scattered all over the road for at least a mile, according Williams. Police also found debris in the parking lot of the former grocery store and a tire that did damage to a nearby car.
“The tire fell off, went over the white (V-Tel) pickup truck, went over another car, hit the third car behind it (and) landed 15 feet in the woods. It was basically an explosion,” Williams said. “The local constable who lives nearby heard the crash and (said) it sounded like a bomb. It shook his house and windows, he told me,” Williams said.
State Police blocked off at least a mile of Route 103 for the crash reconstruction team. The crash was investigated by Williams, along with Troopers Tim Oliver and Eric Vitale.
- Christian Avard