Quincy man killed in crash

A 25-year-old man from Quincy died early yesterday in Dorchester after apparently crashing a Honda Civic into a tree, Boston police reported. The victim, who was not identified by police, apparently struck a tree on the island in the center of the road at Ashland and Park streets. Responding to the single-car accident at 2:26 a.m., officers found Boston Fire Department personnel removing the victim from the vehicle. It is unclear if he had been wearing a seat belt, police said. The victim was pronounced dead enroute to Boston Medical Center, police said. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education has named a 13-member committee to search for a successor to interim Chancellor Patricia Plummer. Board chairman Frederick W. Clark will head the committee, which includes presidents Jack Wilson of the University of Massachusetts, Robert Antonucci of Fitchburg State College, Terrence Gomes of Roxbury Community College, and Richard Doherty, of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts. The committee plans to name a new chancellor by June.

A construction worker electrocuted in Lowell on Saturday was identified yesterday as 22-year-old Marcos Landaverde of Lynn. Landaverde, who was working at a site on Rogers Street, was pronounced dead at the scene shortly before 3 p.m., police said. The victim was working on a metal scaffolding when it came into contact with an electrical line carrying 7,600 volts, said David Graves, National Grid spokesman. The accident is under investigation, Graves said.

A Keene, N.H., man was killed in a three-car crash in New Salem on Saturday night, State Police said. Nicholas J. Cote, 21, was driving a Mazda Protege on Route 202 when he lost control and drove into oncoming traffic, police said. He collided head-on with a Toyota Tacoma driven by Ronald E. Berger, 53, of Shutesbury. Peter J. Copa, 18, of Malden, read-ended Berger with a Mercury Sable. State Police in Athol responded, and Cote was declared dead at the scene. Berger was taken to Athol Memorial Hospital with minor injuries. Speed and alcohol appear to be factors in the crash, which is under investigation, police said.

A 23-year-old New Hampshire man was killed in an early-morning accident yesterday. State Police said John Bourdelais of Atkinson was driving his pickup truck north on Route 121A when he lost control and crashed into a tree at 4:13 a.m. He died at the scene. A passenger, Ashley Whitmore, 22, of Hampstead, was flown to a Boston hospital for treatment. Police said neither was wearing a seat belt and speed appears to have contributed to the accident. (AP)

State and local police are investigating the death of a 22-year-old man hit by two State Police cruisers while lying in the travel lane of Route 100 early yesterday. Investigators have not determined whether Gerald Peterson was alive before he was hit by the two cruisers, State Police Lieutenant John Flannigan said. The troopers were headed south about 2:50 a.m. when they came around a curve and were unable to avoid striking the person in the roadway. (AP)

(Correction: Because of an editing error, a headline in yesterday's New England in Brief roundup misidentified a search committee. The panel was formed to find a replacement for Chancellor Patricia Plummer of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.)