Staff Writer

MEREDITH — A Massachusetts man was killed in a car accident early Sunday morning. He and his 13-year-old son were heading to a local ski area when the truck they were in tried to pass a car on Route 104, lost control, hit an embankment and flipped over several times.

Peter Bensley, 51, of 76 High Street, Newburyport, Mass., was pronounced dead at the scene due to head injuries from the accident, which occurred around 7 a.m. on a section of Route 104 directly across from Wickwas Lake.

Authorities said Bensley, who was driving a red 2004 Toyota Tundra extra-cab truck, was traveling west on Route 104 when he pulled out to pass a 2004 Audi car, driving by Robert Ogara, 47, 41 Winona Shores, Meredith.

Police said while making the pass, Bensley reportedly made contact with the left rear panel of Ogara’s car and lost control of the truck, went airborne and struck an embankment before the vehicle flipped over several times.

Bensley’s 13-year-old son, who was not identified by police, received minor injuries as a result of the accident but was transported to Lakes Region General Hospital for treatment.

Ogara was not injured.

The truck was heavily damaged all over, including having a flattened roof and a crumpled bed and front end. The windshield was also badly cracked.

Among the littered debris from the vehicle, there were at least two pairs of skies that lay in the snow nearby. Several shrubs were flattened along the nearly 100 yard path from the roadway to where the truck came to a rest in the snow.

As crews from the Meredith police and fire departments removed the doors of the vehicle as well as the windshield and the roof, the light snowfall that fell much of the early morning picked up intensity and left the roadway covered.

Meredith Police Cpt. Kevin Morrow said the accident remains under investigation, but preliminary reports suggest that speed combined with the slick road conditions were factors in the crash.

Morrow said Bensley was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident; however, the 13-year-old was wearing a seatbelt, he said.

Morrow said the Bensley family has a summer home in Sandwich and the father and son were on their way to go skiing nearby. He said the 13-year-old had some sort of ski lesson or ski race Sunday morning to attend.