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Hartford County resident Stanley Kardys, age 70, of West Granby, was sentenced to 90 days in jail for his role in an April 2021 crash in Berkshire County that killed 69-year-old Gary Litwin of Ludlow, the Berkshire County District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
According to the DA's Office, on April 23, 2021, just before 3:30 p.m., Massachusetts State Police responded to the eastbound Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate 90) in Becket at mile marker 14.8 for a reported collision between a Freightliner tractor-trailer truck, a Toyota minivan, and a Toyota Camry.
Authorities found that the tractor-trailer, driven by Kardys, had crashed into the back of the Camry in the right lane. The tractor-trailer had then pushed the Camry into the left lane before hitting the left guardrail and pushing the Camry back into the right lane.
At this point, the Camry hit the right lane guardrail and came to a stop in the right breakdown lane, according to authorities. In total, the Camry had been pushed just under 530 feet from the spot of the initial impact to the final resting place.
The Toyota minivan, which had been traveling ahead of the Camry, was hit after the initial collision.
Immediately after the crash, a citizen had stopped to try and provide care to the two people trapped inside the Camry, who were both seriously injured. The driver, Litwin, died before he arrived at Baystate Medical Center. The passenger survived their injuries.
The minivan's driver was unharmed.
Investigators later found that ahead of the crash site at mile marker 13.3, there had been a caution sign warning drivers to slow down ahead of bridge work that was causing a lane split. The road work had been taking place around mile marker 15, causing traffic to slow down.
While looking into what caused the collision, investigators were able to look at crash data retrieval that showed Kardys's truck had been driving at 65 mph and had been set on cruise control at the time of the incident. Authorities also learned that the Camry had been traveling at 18 mph at the time of the crash, and the minivan had been driving at 12 mph.
Further data showed that the truck's brakes were not applied until after the crash, according to the DA's Office.
On Tuesday, Oct. 3, Kardys was found guilty of motor vehicle negligent operation.
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