STERLING — An Orange man was killed in Worcester County on Thursday night after being struck by two vehicles near a median strip after he and his passenger moved the car they were traveling in after it became disabled, according to the Massachusetts State Police.
The 29-year-old victim, who has not yet been identified, was transported to a hospital in Leominster, where he was pronounced dead.
According to State Police spokesperson David Procopio, troopers from the Holden barracks responded to a report of a pedestrian struck in the Route 190 northbound lane in Sterling shortly after 9 p.m. Preliminary investigation indicates the victim had been driving a 2019 Subaru WRX and, while traveling south on Route 190, lost control for undetermined reasons and crossed through the median into the northbound lanes, where the vehicle became disabled with a flat tire. The driver and his passenger, a 28-year-old Gardner man, reportedly moved the Subaru into the northbound breakdown lane and exited the vehicle.
According to Procopio, evidence suggests the Orange man who had been driving the Subaru was then struck by two different vehicles while on foot. The first vehicle did not stop and fled the scene; moments later, a 2016 Volkswagen Jetta driven by a 37-year-old Leominster woman also struck the victim. That driver stopped and remained on scene. Authorities continue to seek information on the first vehicle and its driver.
Neither the victim’s passenger nor the Jetta driver were injured, Procopio said.
The incident remains under investigation by the State Police’s Troop C, with help from the State Police’s Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, its Crime Scene Services Section and its detective unit for Worcester County.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.