By SANDY McGEE

BURRILLVILLE — A single motor vehicle crash on Sunday afternoon claimed the life of a longtime town resident. 

Donald F. Laporte, 78, of 39 Whipple Road, Pascoag, died Sunday after the truck he was operating crashed into a utility pole on Buck Hill Road, said Lt. Kevin S. San Antonio of the Burrillville Police Department.
A 2004 Ford F-150 pickup truck, operated by Laporte, was traveling west on Buck Hill Road sometime after 3 p.m., when the truck left the roadway and crashed into a utility pole. 
The vehicle’s operator was ejected from the truck through the driver’s side window, said San Antonio.
“I believe the driver’s side window was open,” said the lieutenant. “He (Laporte) was not wearing a seatbelt at the time.”
Police, who received a call about the crash at approximately 3:18 p.m., discovered the victim’s body on the ground upon arrival. Laporte was pronounced dead at the scene, said San Antonio.
The body was transported to the state’s Medical Examiner’s Office, who determined the cause of death on Monday to be “blunt impact injuries,” said Annemarie Beardsworth, spokesperson for the state Department of Health.
Police are unsure at this time what caused the vehicle to leave the roadway.
Weather conditions at the time of the collision on Buck Hill Road, located off Wallum Lake Road, were “sunny and dry,” according to San Antonio.
The fatal motor vehicle crash remains under investigation.
Laporte, a longtime resident of town, was the husband of the late Joan Laporte. Funeral arrangements are currently under the direction of the Boucher Funeral Home in Pascoag.
Service was interrupted briefly on Sunday while employees of the Pascoag Utility District replaced the utility pole, which snapped at its base as a result of the collision, according to police.
Responding to the crash were Sgt. Dennis Leahey, Patrolman Det. Wayne Richardson and Patrolman Michael Bouchard, all of the Burrillville Police Department, as well as personnel from Pascoag Rescue.