Pair of Nashua teens injured in Pepperell crash

PEPPERELL, Mass. – Two Nashua teenagers were injured Tuesday night after the car they were traveling in collided head on with a parked vehicle off Route 111.

Pepperell police refused to identify the teens, but said both were males, ages 16 and 18, and that both were transported to St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua with minor injuries.

The crash happened shortly after 8:30 p.m., just over the Hollis line, Pepperell Police Sgt. David Scott said.

Pepperell police learned of the crash after Hollis Police Chief Richard Darling came upon the collision and reported it, Scott said.

Pepperell police and fire crews then responded to the scene where they found Darling and another Hollis officer attending to the male occupants of a red Volkswagen Jetta that had rammed the front of a truck. The truck, which had a for-sale sign in the window, was parked with several other cars at Detail Doctors at 163 Route 111. The truck had no occupants at the time of the crash, police said.

Scott said upon arrival, the first responders said they found the 16-year-old sitting in the driver’s seat and the 18-year-old lying in gravel just outside the car.

The driver later told police that his passenger stepped out of the car immediately after the crash, then collapsed onto the ground. Both driver- and passenger-side airbags in the Volkswagen deployed in the crash, and both vehicles were left with extensive front-end damage.

Both men appeared to have minor injuries as a result of the crash, Scott said, adding that the passenger was complaining of widespread pain and never got up from where he fell. “He stayed right there until they scooped him up and put him into the ambulance,” Scott said.

He said it appeared that the Volkswagen was traveling west on Route 111 when it crossed into the eastbound lane and went off the road into the lot.

Scott said alcohol did not appear to be a factor in the collision but speed more than likely was.

The speed limit on that stretch of road was 40 mph, he said.

An investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.