Police have identified a Hudson man who died Tuesday in a single-car crash on Route 106 in Concord.

Nicholas Coolen, 27, was killed when he was ejected from a 2001 black Chevrolet Corvette traveling south from Loudon to the Capital City, Concord Deputy Police Chief John Thomas said Thursday morning. 

Coolen’s friend Connor Chadwick, 28, of Derry was also thrown from the vehicle, police said. He was transported by ambulance to Concord Hospital where he remains in serious condition.

Chadwick is receiving medical care as a patient in the hospital’s intensive care unit, said Brendon Bourgeois, a friend of both men and a resident of Manchester. Bourgeois started a GoFundMe page in support of Chadwick’s medical expenses and Coolen’s funeral costs, and the total money raised will be split equally between the families.

Coolen and Chadwick had spent several months restoring the Corvette, which Bourgeois said Chadwick owned.

The cause of Tuesday’s crash remains under investigation. Thomas said by phone Thursday that authorities do not know at this time who was driving the Corvette on Route 106 when it crashed, and whether Coolen and Chadwick were wearing seatbelts.

The Corvette struck a guardrail and came to rest in a grassy area off the side of the state road. When first responders arrived on scene, they found the vehicle off the road and car parts scattered about the area.

The crash was reported at approximately 11:40 a.m. just south of the Loudon town line in Concord.

A section of Route 106, also known as Sheep Davis Road, was shut down for several hours Tuesday as police processed the scene. 

As authorities continue try to determine what caused the crash, the community is showing their support for the two families, with more than $11,000 raised through the GoFundMe page since Tuesday.

Bourgeois said Coolen and Chadwick were best friends who did so much for other people, and that their families need prayers and support.

“These two are the most wonderful and giving people that most of us have had the pleasure to meet,” he wrote on the GoFundMe page.

A memorial erected at the crash site this week includes a wooden cross on which Coolen’s name is written with a heart. Two solar lights frame the cross and flowers rest at its base.

Authorities are asking anyone who witnessed the crash to contact the Concord Police Department at 603-225-8600 or the Concord Regional Crimeline at 603-226-3100.

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