Exeter’s Jeremy Cole was heading home after his shift as a police sergeant at Endicott College early Thanksgiving morning when he was killed by a wrong-way driver on Interstate 95.
The wrong-way driver in a Tesla, first spotted in New Hampshire, crashed head-on into Cole’s Chevrolet Trailblazer shortly after midnight on I-95 in Newbury, Mass., State Police said.
Cole was a 15-year veteran of the Endicott department, where he was described by Chief Kerry Ramsdell as “not only a dedicated public servant and prior recipient of a lifesaving award, but also a cherished member of our team.”
Ramsdell issued a statement Thursday saying the department is heartbroken by the loss.
“On this Thanksgiving Day, our hearts are with the family, friends, and loved ones of a police officer who reported for duty keeping the rest of us safe and secure but did not return home,” Ramsdell said. “We are committed to supporting them in any way we can through this unimaginable grief.”
New Hampshire State Police alerted Massachusetts authorities when the Tesla was heading toward the border around midnight. State troopers from both departments kept visual contact with the car through the Newburyport area while police in Georgetown prepared a tire-deflation device.
However, the Tesla struck Cole’s SUV before it made it to Georgetown.
The driver of the Tesla was a man in his 40s from Massachusetts. Police have not released his name. He suffered serious injuries and was flown by helicopter to a Boston hospital. He is expected to face charges.
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