Settlement Reached in Fatal I-89 Crash

North Haverhill — The insurance company for Daniel Cowdrey, the Hartland man who killed a 34-year-old Rhode Island mother in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 89 in Lebanon, has agreed to a settlement on behalf of her young son, who was in the backseat of her vehicle and broke his leg in the May 2016 collision.

Cowdrey, 40, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and aggravated driving under the influence in December in connection with the crash that killed Ellynn Koelsch and injured her then-4-year-old son, Anthony, near Exit 20 in Lebanon.

Both drivers were insured through Progressive, according to a petition for approval of the settlement on behalf of a minor, which is filed in Grafton Superior Court in North Haverhill.

The parties agreed to a structured settlement in the amount of $150,000 — “$100,000 from the liability carrier, Progressive Insurance Companies, and $50,000 from the underinsured carrier, Progressive Insurance Companies,” the petition states. The amount will grow to about $250,000 by the time Anthony receives the payments.

He is to be paid $50,125 per year for five years beginning at age 22, according to the document, which a judge approved on Thursday, a court clerk said. The boy currently is 5 years old.

Adam Koelsch, the boy’s father, filed the petition. The elder Koelsch wasn’t in the vehicle at the time of the collision.

The Koelsch family’s attorney, Nashua, N.H.,-based David Gottesman, called the agreement an “acceptable resolution to a very difficult matter.”

The settlement was reached on Nov. 28, which was about a week prior to Cowdrey’s plea and sentencing hearing. Cowdrey currently is in prison serving a five-year sentence.

There was no formal lawsuit, but the court requires a petition for distribution of a minor’s settlement when the amount exceeds $10,000.

Cowdrey was represented by Manchester attorney Wilfred Desmarais in the matter. A message left for him wasn’t immediately returned.

Gottesman said he had no comment on whether there will be any litigation involving the estate of Ellynn Koelsch.

Cowdrey had been drinking at Peking Tokyo in Lebanon prior to the crash, according to a police affidavit. When he left the restaurant shortly before 9 p.m., he entered onto the Exit 19 off-ramp on his way back to Hartland and hit another vehicle before continuing onto I-89, driving northbound in the southbound lanes.

He then slammed into a car driven by Koelsch, of Cranston, R.I., killing her and injuring her son.

The Koelsches were in Vermont to look at a preschool because the family was planning on moving with its ministry to the University of Vermont, according to a Facebook post.

Cowdrey didn’t speak at his plea and sentencing hearing.

Adam Koelsch used his time in court to focus on what he called New Hampshire’s history of lenient sentences for people convicted of driving under the influence. He urged Cowdrey to stand up and speak out against drinking and driving.

Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.