Last modified: Saturday, November 10, 2007 12:38 AM EST One person was killed when this car crashed into a tree on Oak Street in Foxboro late Friday morning. (Staff photo by MARK STOCKWELL) Fatal end to chase BY DAVID LINTON and FRANK MORTIMER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF FOXBORO - For the second time in three weeks Friday, local streets turned deadly when a driver of a speeding car fleeing police threw a gun out the window before fatally careening off Oak Street into a tree. State police withheld information about the driver, who was pronounced dead at the scene, pending the notification of the next of kin. The driver had earlier ignored a signal to slow down on Interstate 95 South in Sharon where he was traveling around 80 mph, state police Lt. Eric Anderson said. When Foxboro state Trooper Kevin Collins attempted to pull the vehicle over shortly before 11 a.m., the driver slowed down, but then abruptly accelerated, getting off the highway at Mechanic Street, Anderson said. The driver turned left onto Oak Street and then threw an object out of the car near Webb Street, about a mile down the street, before continuing at a high rate of speed, Anderson said. Troopers, aided by state police dogs, later found a small-caliber handgun in bushes in front of a house at 65 Oak St. Anderson said he did not know if the weapon was loaded. The driver lost control of his 1998 Ford Taurus at a bend on Oak Street, going left off the road and broadside into an oak tree at 110 Oak St., near Lamson Road, according to state police. The exact speed at the time of the crash has not yet been determined. The car was wrapped around the tree, obviously after hitting it at a high rate of speed. Oak Street was closed for about 3 hours. The crash is under investigation by state police and the Norfolk County district attorney's office. Why the driver did not slow down or stop for police is a mystery. Anderson had no information on whether the driver had a criminal history, outstanding arrest warrants or whether the car was stolen. Anderson, noting that the driver was armed, said the chase was an example of how something seemingly ordinary, such as stopping a speeding car, can turn dangerous. "The trooper would have been in jeopardy at some point," Anderson said. The crash shocked residents and is the second tragic incident on Foxboro street since the Oct. 15 murder on Green Street, where a Central Falls, R.I. man was shot repeatedly before his body was dumped. A suspect, also of Central Falls, R.I., has been arrested in the murder and will be arraigned later this month in Wrentham District Court, authorities said. On Friday, Tamara Seretta, 34, of 115 Oak St., an insurance company supervisor, was working in her basement when the car hit the oak tree. She said the smashed car stands in the front yard at 110 Oak St., the home of John and Doreen Bentley. "I heard a really loud crash and right behind it I heard police sirens," said Seretta, whose 3-year-old son Nicholas' school bus was due to bring him home about 45 minutes later. Seretta said she walked to the end of her driveway. Familiar with past accidents at the sharp bend, she said, "I knew where to look." She said four state police cruisers arrived within a minute of the crash. Seretta walked to the accident scene. She saw no smoke or fire, but said the car was demolished. "You couldn't really tell which was the front and which was the back," she said. "The person was obviously still in there. They didn't even attempt to get him out of the car. The tree is taking up the whole driver's side of the car. "There's no way - soon as a I saw it, you just knew: Nobody made it." She said the trunk of the hardwood is almost 3 feet in diameter. The tree stands in the Bentley family's front yard, about 10 to 15 feet from the road. A state police helicopter hovered in the area, as did several TV helicopters. "It's a really bad corner," Seretta said of the sharp bend in Oak Street. "People drive way too fast on the street," she added. "It's just insane. People are just flying down the street." Another woman at the scene, who asked that her name not be used, was critical of the state police pursuing a vehicle in such a densely populated neighborhood - especially at that time of day. When asked about concerns about the chase in a residential neighborhood, Anderson said Collins followed state police guidelines regarding high-speed chases and that there was not much traffic on the street at the time.