Just got off scene from a traffic accident that claimed the life of a NCSHP trooper. It appears he had a vehicle stopped when an 18 wheeler left the right lane and struck his vehicle. It was then drug aprox 150 yards before coming to a stop agaist the center gaurdrail with the truck on its side and the trooper car in flames.

I was going to include the troopers name, but it has not been made public yet.

My engine was first on scene, we were dispatched mutual aid but beat the primary department because we went eastbound in the westbound lane to avoid traffic, the vehicles were fully involved and the car was mangled so bady we did not even recognise it as a car, but thought it was part of the tractor that had seperated. My crew worked the other side and when we had the fire out and I was walking away was when I noticed it was a car, about the size of a neon now instead of a crown vic. The only way to know it was a NCSHP car was the door skin on the drivers side had been sheared off and still read state trooper laying on the road.

I liked this trooper although I didn't know him well, he always did his best to help us clear accident scenes quickly instead of making us wait, usually he would clear us as soon as possible saying he knew we had jobs and family to get back to or to get to in the morning.

Word has it the driver of the truck claims he fell asleep, but others on scene were reporting that a female was driving topless and several truckers were trying to catch her and see, and this may very well have been the case. I heard several truckers say they heard that occuring over the CB right before the accident.

Less than 2 years ago an almost indetical accident claimed the life of trooper Calvin Taylor, less than 3 miles down the road from this one.

[V][USA]

That sucks, did the semi driver get arrested?

Update:


[url]www.wlos.com/[/url]

The drug paraphanalia was a crack pipe.

Trooper dies in fiery crash
By Tammy Jones and Lynde Hedgpeth, staff writers
May 31, 2003 12:21 a.m.

WAYNESVILLE - Sheriff Bobby Medford would have loved to have had Anthony Cogdill back in the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department.

The sheriff saw Cogdill a few months ago, and told him the invitation was open. But Cogdill told him he was building a house in Haywood County, and he loved his job with the State Highway Patrol.

"He was a real good officer," Medford said. "He just had a way about him. Everybody liked him."

Black bands on state troopers' badges commemorated Cogdill on Friday and his love of law enforcement.

Cogdill, 32, died when a tractor-trailer smashed into his patrol car, pulled over on Interstate 40 in Haywood County.

As Cogdill's fellow troopers grieved, they tried to answer the questions arising from the fiery crash. This much they knew as the sun went down:

Shortly after 3 p.m., Cogdill pulled over a gray Ford Ranger driven by Brandon Paul Landry, 22, of Jennings, La. He was stopped on eastbound I-40 near mile marker 26 west of Waynesville.

Landry, a Marine stationed at Camp LeJeune, was returning to the base from Jennings after a 10-day leave.

Cogdill got Landry's driver's license and returned to his car.

About the same time, emergency dispatchers started getting calls from drivers on I-40 about a tractor-trailer weaving erratically from lane to lane and randomly speeding up and slowing down.

The tractor-trailer, driven by Bradford Thomas Layton, 35, ran off the side of the road and skidded along the guardrails about 100 feet behind Cogdill's car.

The tractor-trailer rammed into the patrol car, which flipped and slid for about 100 yards.

In seconds, the patrol car was ablaze, the tractor-trailer was on its side and the back of the Ford Ranger was crushed.

Cogdill died in the twisted, charred mass of metal that had been his patrol car.

Landry was taken to a hospital where he wa treated for scrapes, cuts and bruises, and released.

Layton, who works out of Roebuck, S.C., was taken to Haywood Regional Hospital, where troopers requested he submit to a blood test for alcohol and drugs.

By the end of the night, Layton had been charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless driving and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to Highway Patrol Sgt. Pat Staggs.

Troopers had closed both sides of the interstate for several hours while investigating the accident.

Late Friday evening, traffic remained backed up for miles in both directions.

Cogdill left behind a wife, Heidi, and a 3-year-old son, Cody.

Cogdill's father-in-law, Larry Holloway, recalled the trooper's valiant career.

While working at the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department in 1995, Cogdill brushed with death during a traffic stop.

He was returning to his patrol car after talking with the driver.

A passenger had given him a false name, Medford said. The 33-year-old man was wanted for writing stolen checks.

A backup officer saw the man aim a gun at Cogdill. The two officers fired four rounds, killing the suspect.

After the shooting, Medford said the suspect told family members he "would not be taken alive."

Cogdill's actions were so by-the-book that a video of the stop was used in training, Holloway said.

District Attorney Ron Moore later commended the officers for their actions, saying they likely saved the lives of other passengers in the car.

Cogdill was named sheriff's department Officer of the Year for 1995. He joined the patrol in 1997.
[url]cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/news/35834[/url]

It's not as simple as "are no longer allowed."  By all means feel free to post something current, such as this.  [b]GoatBoy[/b] has asked that [i]in general[/i] items be kept in their "proper" forums--this includes all items, within reason--handgun questions to Handgun Forum, survival questions to Survival Forum, etc.  The other memorial thread, which I moved into here, was in regard to an event that occurred in [b]1991[/b], and did not bear placement in GD.  As this is a recent event, feel free to post in GD, if you see fit.  Please accept the reality that there may be insensitive comments made there by our FEW who are not enamored by LEO's.  I will move this thread, if [b]Garand_Shooter[/b] should contact me and request it.  


R.I.P. Trooper Cogdill.  [V]

[USA]