Aunamarie Shadle was driving her white 2021 Volkswagen east on State Highway 37 Thursday night when the unthinkable happened. The 22-year-old from Massena hit a man standing in the roadway.
That man was Michael Tessier, 70, also from Massena. He had been collecting debris in an unlit section near the Town of Louisville in St. Lawrence County around 8:10 p.m.
Shadle slammed on the brakes and stopped right there. She called law enforcement herself to report the crash.
Troopers and emergency workers arrived and tried everything they could to keep Tessier alive. Their efforts failed. He was declared dead on the spot.
The stretch of road has no lights. Visibility was poor. Police say Tessier was in the travel lane when the Volkswagen struck him.
An autopsy will be done, though the schedule is not set. Investigators are still piecing together the full story.
Shadle stayed at the scene and cooperated from the first moment. What started as a routine drive home for the young Massena woman became a fatal crash that took the life of a local man cleaning the highway.
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