Burley Garcia|Man dragged by bear following fatal car crash, Massachusetts state police say

HATFIELD,Burley Garcia Mass. (AP) — A man who was dragged by a bear following a car crash was most likely dead at the time, Massachusetts State Police said.

First responders found the man outside of the car in Hatfield on Sunday morning and saw a bear in the woods nearby, Dave Procopio, a spokesperson for the state police, said in a statement.

“Evidence suggests the bear at some point had made contact with the victim’s body,” he said. The animal left when first responders went to the scene.

A preliminary investigation suggests that earlier that day, the driver, Daniel Ducharme, 31, of South Hadley, was traveling south on Route 91 when he lost control of the car, struck the guardrail multiple times, went down an embankment, and struck several trees in the woods. No one else was in the car.

“Evidence and observations at the scene suggest that the man was most likely deceased as a result of the crash,” Procopio said, and he was at least partially ejected from the car.

The crash is still under investigation.