CHARLESTOWN – A Newport teen pedestrian died after being struck by a pickup truck on Route 12 near WindyAcres Park Friday night.

Adam Pysz, 17, of Reed Farm Road, Newport, was in the road attempting to move a deer out of the northbound lane that had been struck by another vehicle when he and another man were struck by a Ford Ranger pickup truck driven by Benjamin Watkins, 24, of Springfield, Vermont, state police said in a press release.

“He was a good kid, a young man,” his grandmother Ellen Pysz of Newport said.

Police responded to the scene around 7:09 p.m.

The other man moving the deer -- David Cummings, 32, of Claremont -- was also injured in the collision.

“Both pedestrians that were struck were transported to Valley Regional Hospital with serious injuries. …Pysz eventually succumbed to his injuries and Cummings was DARTed to the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon,” state police said.

State police said speed and or alcohol do not appear to be factors in the crash.

Ellen Pysz said she believes her grandson was returning home from an after school job when he stopped to move the deer out of the road.

Pysz was a senior at Newport Middle High School and was to graduate this spring. He had plans to join the military, she said.

He was an outdoorsman, who was interested in animals and enjoyed welding at school, his grandmother said.

“He was just a quiet kid. And he loved the outdoors,” she said. “He was very soft hearted. He was just a good kid. … He loved to fish and being on the water.”

Pysz had an older half-brother, Tyler Maryn, who did at the age of nine, she said.

Pysz left behind his mother and step-father Lorraine and Michael Padova of Newport and his father and step-mother Andrew E. and Suzanne Pysz of Newport and his twin half-sisters Kennedy and Anna Pysz who are turning 13 on Monday.

Pysz was born in Lebanon on July 8 in 1995. He lived his entire life in Newport and was baptized at St. Patrick's Church.
According to his obituary, before joining the military Pysz wanted to take a year off and live in California.

“Adam enjoyed hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, go-kart racing, playing pool and loved welding shop at school. He once said that he “was a man of few words,” and that rang true to his character. He truly cared for all animal life and raised a countless variety of creatures in and around the house. Family and friends were most important to him with several close friends that were like brothers to him,” his obituary reads.

A Mass of Christian Burial is to be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Wednesday at St. Patrick's Church, 32 Beech St., Newport, and followed by his burial at St. Patrick's Cemetery and a reception at the Newport Moose Club.

Calling hours are planned for Tuesday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Newton-Bartlett Funeral Home, 42 Main St., Newport.
Memorial donations may be made in his name to the Upper Valley Humane Society, 300 Old Route 10, Enfield, N.H. 03748.

For more information or to send a condolence online to Newton-Bartlett Funeral Home, www.newtonbartlett.com.

At the scene of the crash state and Charlestown police were assisted by members of the New Hampshire State Police Technical Accident Reconstruction Unit, Charlestown Fire Department as well as New Hampshire Department of Transportation.

The collision remains under investigation and witnesses to the accident are encouraged to call Trooper Brandon M. Dean of Troop C at 603-358-3333.