Single-vehicle crash kills one in Barnstead

By RICK GREEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

BARNSTEAD — A car plunged 12 feet off a rural two-lane road and came to rest on its top in an icy creek, killing the sole occupant of the vehicle, police said Wednesday.

Police and rescue personnel rushed to the accident scene in the 300 block of Peacham Road about 9 a.m. after a motorist reported seeing the 2008 convertible Chrysler Sebring in the creek, its passenger compartment submerged.

Police Chief Paul Poirier and Officer Dan Shapiro broke a side window, pulled out the driver and attempted CPR.

"We were able to pull him out of waist-deep water," Poirier said. "You don't even think about the cold. The adrenaline rushed and our main job was to get him out."

Damage to a mail box and tire tracks appeared to indicate the car was traveling on the road when it crossed the oncoming lane and plunged into the gully, Shapiro said.

The exact time of the accident and the cause of death were not known.

This was the first fatal vehicle accident of the year in Barnstead, about 20 miles southeast of Laconia, Poirier said. The creek where it occurred does not have a name and narrows to a trickle during the summer.

The name of the person who died was withheld pending notification of family.

Rescuers were able to pull a man from this wreck Wednesday, but the man did not survive the crash. (Rick Green/Laconia Daily Sun)