Bass player Caleb Scofield died after his car smashed into a concrete barrier at a tool booth and was engulfed in flames with him inside.
The 39-year-old tried to change lanes on the Everett Turnpike at the Bedford toll plaza in New Hampshire but didn’t make it in time.
Scofield played for American rock band Cave In along with sludge-metal groups Old Man Gloom and Zozobra over an 11-year career.
Bass player Caleb Scofield died after his car smashed into a concrete barrier at a tool booth and was engulfed in flames with him inside
The 39-year-old tried to change lanes on the Everett Turnpike at the Bedford toll plaza in New Hampshire but didn’t make it in time
He leaves behind his wife Jen and two children Sydney, seven, and Desmond, 10, and a fundraising effort for them has raised almost $50,000.
Sergeant Bryan Trask of Bedford State Police said Scofield ‘didn’t make the lane quite clear and crashed into the barrier’.
‘They moved part of the concrete barrier right out of the toll plaza – I have never seen that happen,’ he told the Mirror.
‘The truck had become fully engulfed with the person still in the vehicle.’ Police said the truck rolled over at least once after hitting the barrier.
An autopsy found Scofield was still alive as the vehicle burned, dying of smoke inhalation and burn injuries, along with blunt trauma from the crash.
‘To see [his family] torn apart like this. I don’t know how they’re going to go on without him,’ his cousin Kaitlyn O’Connor said.
Sergeant Bryan Trask of Bedford State Police said Scofield ‘didn’t make the lane quite clear and crashed into the barrier’
He leaves behind his wife Jen and two children Sydney, seven, and Desmond, 10
‘His love for music was almost as equal for his desire to want to be a good dad. He always followed his dreams and we all truly looked up to him and thought he was kind of a celebrity of the family.’
Scofield joined Cave In in 1998 three years after it was formed, then started Zozobra in 2006, releasing three albums.
‘He was one of a kind. Our best friend and an unfathomable world of inspiration,’ Cave In said in a statement.
Fellow rockers Isis wrote on their official Facebook page: ‘He was a great father, a loving husband and his loss will be most deeply felt by his family.
‘His music in his various bands have inspired us and many others, and will continue to do so for years to come. We love you and miss you already Caleb.’