Manchester, N.H : Mass. man killed in fiery crash near I-93/I-293 split in Manchester on Tuesday morning, September 27, 2016

A Massachusets man was killed Tuesday morning in a fiery crash after a police chase from Salem to Manchester.

State police said they were trying to pull over Bryan Martinez, 36, of Hingham, Massachusetts, when his 2011 grey Dodge Ram careened into trees off I-293 and burst into flames.

"The trooper attempted to stop this vehicle, which was traveling in an erratic manner," Capt. Gregory Ferry said.

Police said Martinez was the only person in the truck.

Officials said he left the scene of an earlier crash in Salem.

"In the area of Exit 2 in Salem," Ferry said. "It was reported that one vehicle had sideswiped two other vehicles."

Police said Martinez apparently got out to talk and then drove away, headed north on I-93.

New Hampshire State Trooper Emmanuel Francois began following the truck near Exit 4 on I-93. Francois tried to stop the truck, but Martinez refused to pull over.

Francois continued following the pickup truck northbound, but he was forced to keep his distance due to Martinez's erratic driving.

Another trooper was positioned near Exit 5 but was unable to deploy spike strips because Martinez's headlights were not on.

Francois said he continued to follow the truck as it was going about 70 mph. The truck sped up to about 100 mph as it approached the I-293 junction.

"I saw a pickup truck swerving back and forth across the highway," witness Frank O'Laughlin said. "It had its flashers on and nearly crashed several times."

O'Laughlin said he saw the trooper try to stop the pickup.

"When the driver noticed the officer chasing after him, he did increase his rate of speed," O'Laughlin said.

He said it wasn't long before both vehicles disappeared from sight. The chase ended with the crash a few miles up the road.

Police said Martinez had continued onto I-293, but lost control of his truck. The truck ran off the road and onto the grass between I-293 and I-93 before striking several trees.

Police said Martinez was ejected from the truck and the truck was engulfed in flames.

"The troopers took immediate action in removing the operator from the immediate area, pulling him up the embankment and administering first aid," Ferry said.

Both troopers performed CPR on Martinez, but he died of his injuries at the scene.

It took firefighters about 20 minutes to put out the fire.

No troopers were injured, and there were no injuries in the Salem accident. One firefighter was taken to a hospital for an unrelated illness and was treated and released.

Police said drugs and alcohol do not appear to have been factors in the crash. They also said Martinez was not wearing his seat belt, which resulted in him being thrown from the truck.

Source :
Mass. man killed in fiery crash near I-93/I-293 split in Manchester