Four-vehicle crash on Route 3 leads to serious injuries, arrest

A multi-car crash led to an arrest after a driver fled the scene.

According to Dave Procopio of Massachusetts State Police, at 10:21 p.m. Sunday Troopers from the State Police-Norwell Barracks responded to Route 3 northbound in Duxbury for a four-vehicle crash that resulted in serious injuries to one driver and the arrest of another who was apprehended after running away from the crash scene.

The driver of a 2011 Toyota Camry, a 59-year-old Plymouth man, was transported to South Shore Hospital with serious injuries.

The driver suspected of causing the crash, Richard T. Nohelty, 28, of Scituate, who was driving a 2007 Chrysler 300C, ran from the scene on foot. He located a short time later and apprehended by Scituate Police Officers in the area of Beaver Dam Road in that town. Nohelty was transported to South Shore Hospital with possible minor injuries. He faces charges of leaving the scene of a crash causing personal injury; negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and speeding.

The two other vehicles involved in the crash were a 2001 Toyota Avalon operated by a 26-year-old Waltham man, who was also transported to South Shore Hospital with minor injuries, and a 2004 Mercedes S500SE sedan operated by a 24-year-old Weymouth man, who was transported to Beth Israel-Plymouth with minor injuries.

Preliminary investigation indicates that NOHELTY was northbound on Route 3 when his car struck the guardrail on the left side of the road and became disabled in the left travel lane. The other three vehicles, all also northbound on Route 3, sustained damage of varying degrees in chain reaction crashes initiated when one of those vehicles swerved to the right to avoid hitting Nohelty’s car.

The crash remains under investigation by Troop D of the Massachusetts State Police with assistance from the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, State Police Crime Scene Services Section, and State Police Detective Unit for Plymouth County.

Both lanes of Route 3 north were shut down at the crash site for four hours to facilitate the crash investigation and reconstruction. All lanes were re-opened shortly before 2 a.m.