PETERBOROUGH -- A Bennington man was killed and an Antrim woman was injured in a crash on Route 202 North Wednesday night.

Patrick J. Sanders, 46, of Onset Road, Bennington, was pronounced dead at the scene. Betty H. Coffin Brooks, 63, of Turner Hill Road, Antrim, was taken to Monadnock Community Hospital with serious injuries. She was later airlifted to UMass Medical Center in Worcester Mass., where this morning she was listed in fair condition.

Leah Crooker, a Bennington resident who spoke to Brooks on the phone this morning, said she suffered multiple fractures to one leg and assorted bumps and bruises.

According to police, the collision occurred at approximately 6:55 p.m. just south of the Route 202/Route 136 intersection.

In a press release, Peterborough Police Chief Scott Guinard wrote that the initial investigation indicates that the northbound 1995 Subaru Legacy Sanders was driving crossed the center line into the path of a southbound 2004 Toyota pickup truck, driven by Brooks. The vehicles collided head on, he wrote. There were no passengers in either vehicle.
Today Sgt. Michael Chapdelaine said that Brooks was wearing a seat belt and Sanders wasn’t. Witnesses at the scene said an airbag in Brooks’ truck was deployed.

Chapdelaine said Brooks was conscious and speaking to firefighters at the scene. “At some point we’ll interview her,” he said.

Chapdelaine said there were no alcohol or drugs found on the scene of the crash. He said it appears that both vehicles were traveling at the same rate of speed and there were no signs that either motorist hit the brakes before the crash.

Brooks is known affectionately to many in the region as “Miss Betty,” and until recently ran the Small Beginnings School and daycare center in Bennington. Crooker, whose son is a former student at the school, said she was directed to Brooks’s room when she called the hospital.

“It was definitely good to hear her voice,” said Crooker yesterday. “I don’t remember much of the conversation because I was just so happy to hear her voice.”

Brook’s husband, David Brooks, said Thursday he wasn’t surprised she had fared so well in the accident.

“She’s a tough bird, I tell you, when it comes to stuff like this,” he said.

Brooks had been on her way to a Monadnock Choir practice at the time of the crash. A nine-year participant in the chorus, Brooks was scheduled to arrive early for the 7:30 p.m. rehearsal. Fellow chorus member Sandy Jackson of Hancock said yesterday that she had wondered why the road was closed when the chorus practice was finished at around 10 p.m. and was stunned to learn that a longtime friend had been involved.

Paul Scofield, 45, of Rindge was driving behind Brooks at the time of the crash. He said he saw the back end of Brooks’s truck lift more than eight feet in the air when it was hit, and he swerved into the breakdown lane to avoid a collision.

“Little bits of plastic were flying off the wreck and hitting my truck,” said Scofield Thursday.
Scofield said he and a coworker who was traveling with him hopped out of the truck to find Sanders unresponsive and Brooks awake and crying out.

“I tried to calm her down a bit, but then the cars started coming around the corner and they were going every which way,” said Scofield, who began directing traffic with nothing more than a lightweight reflective vest. “I almost became a casualty myself because no one could see me.”

A neighbor spoke with the Ledger-Transcript on Thursday about Sanders.

“I just saw him yesterday,” said Roger Luby, the property manager for the Mountainside at Crotched Mountain Condominium Association, where Sanders lived for more than a decade. “He was a great owner. If I ever needed help with anything, he’d lend a hand. Just a very sociable guy. He will be missed.”

Sanders lived alone in his Onset Road condominium, said Luby.

Wednesday’s accident was the second fatal crash in Peterborough in less than a month.

On Oct. 12 at 11:25 a.m. police went to Route 202 South just north of Community Lane after a northbound 2002 Toyota Highlander, driven by Stephen Lagakos, 63, of Wellesley, Mass., crossed the center line and crashed head on into a 2005 Chevrolet Malibu, driven by Stephen Krause, 56, of Keene. Both drivers and the only two passengers were pronounced dead at the scene. The passengers, who had been in the Toyota, were Lagakos’ wife, Regina Lagakos, 61, and his mother, Helen W. Lagakos, 94, both of Wellesley, Mass.

That accident is still under investigation, according to Chapdelaine, who is also heading up the investigation into last night’s crash.

Updates will be provided on this site as more details become available.