Cheshire man’s fatal crash under investigation

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By Brigitte Ruthman Republican-American

SANDISFIELD, Mass. — State police in Massachusetts are still in the process of unraveling a complex series of events that caused a crash that killed 32-year-old Cheshire resident Matthew Grozik along Route 8 in December.

“To some extent, both did,” Trooper James DeAngelis said when asked which of the two vehicles crossed the center line Dec. 20 in the small town of Sandisfield, Mass., just north of the Connecticut state line at Colebrook.

Matthew Grozik of Cheshire. Contributed

Grozik, originally from Terryville, was driving a 2018 Nissan van delivering breathing equipment to a nursing home in New York for Wolcott-based Acute Care Gases. He collided head-on with a 2014 Ram pickup truck, whose 49-year-old driver hasn’t been identified in accordance with a Massachusetts state police policy that only allows for the public identification of drivers who die or are arrested.

“It’s devastating,” said Barry Hollander, director of operations at Acute Care Gases. “(Grozik) was a happy person to be around and just did anything he was asked. This is a small company and we are all friends. He stepped up when we became crazy busy during the pandemic.”

Grozik had been planning to pop the question of marriage to his girlfriend before the fatal crash.

A celebration of life event for Grozik has been delayed by the pandemic.

DeAngelis said the investigation’s preliminary findings could take three months.