GREENFIELD — Greenfield Police Department detectives and members of the Hancock County Fatal Accident Crash Team (FACT) continue to investigate the discovery of a body found Tuesday morning on the west side of Greenfield. Officials believe the deceased man is associated with a traffic accident reported Monday morning near a construction site on Windswept Road where officials could not find the driver of the vehicle.
Officers were called to the construction site just after 9 a.m. Tuesday morning after workers found a man dead, GPD Deputy Chief Chuck McMichael said in a press release. Officers and EMS personnel arrived on the scene quickly and said the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators began searching for clues to the man’s identity, trying to discern how he ended up in the construction area. While searching the area, GPD officers realized the body could be associated a crash that occurred in the same area earlier Monday morning around 4 a.m. No driver was ever located in association to that crash.
Officials believe the man to be in his 40s and that he was indeed connected with the abandoned accident scene. Officials from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department initially investigated the crash on N. Windswept Road since GPD officials were working another incident at the time, McMichael said.
McMichael noted that, once GPD police arrived on the scene Tuesday morning and quickly recalled the abandoned vehicle from the earlier crash, evidence fell into place and they are comfortable with saying the two incidents are related.
“Everything right now appears to show it is related to the accident,” McMichael said.
Officials from the GPD say the body, which was not in an easily seen area, was found as estimated 600 yards away from where the accident occurred early Monday morning. McMichael said that when officials find an abandoned vehicle they normally do a search of several hundred yards, but not 600 yards, which could indicate the victim might have walked away from the crash and fallen due to serious injuries sustained in the accident.
Police would not rule out the victim was alone, saying the case is still an open investigation.
The vehicle crash was originally labeled as a “leaving the scene” crash report by Sheriff’s officials. Capt. Robert Harris of the HCSD noted that their department had not looked at their body cam footage yet to see how extensively the area was searched upon the initial call early Monday morning. However, he said no photos from the accident case were taken.
“Our deputy was in the area of that crash for almost an hour,” Harris said. “He walked the roadway all around the crash site, including when it was lit up by the tow truck lights — he was unable to find the driver.”
Harris noted that, at the time of the initial crash, their deputy thought perhaps the driver had called someone for a ride home, which Harris noted is often typical of drivers who leave the scene of crashes during that time of the morning.
McMichael noted investigators have indicated it would not have been possible for anyone to see the man from the roadway or from where the vehicle was left abandoned in accordance to where the body was eventually found.
“There is no way an officer could have seen the body from the accident or the road,” McMichael said.
The man’s identity has not been made public pending notification to all relatives, officials said. The case remains under investigation and information will be released when available.
