A quick-thinking State Police trooper put himself in harm’s way to avert a possible catastrophe on Interstate 91 earlier this month.
An unidentified driver had been traveling south into oncoming traffic on I-91 north for several miles when Trooper Matthew Trombley got the call at around 5:30 p.m. June 10, according to the trooper union State Police Association of Massachusetts. The vehicle came close to striking “numerous vehicles” while barreling down the highway, SPAM wrote.
Trombley drove parallel to the Honda Accord driving in the wrong direction but soon sped up to the next emergency turnaround and placed his own police cruiser in the path of the wrong-way vehicle.
“As a result of Trooper Trombley’s quick thinking, he was able to utilize his cruiser to stop the wrong-way operator and heroically save the lives of innocent commuters,” the association wrote on its Facebook page Tuesday morning.
Images shared by SPAM from the scene show extensive damage to the side of Trombley’s cruiser, with both front and side airbags deployed and a rear tire and wheel sheared off and lying yards from where the cruiser came to rest.
The suspect Honda Accord displayed heavy damage to the driver’s side bumper and the rubber tire only partially still on the wheel. The rear bumper was falling off.
Trombley could not immediately be reached for comment when the Herald called his barracks in Shelburne Falls.
Earlier this year, another trooper was heralded in the news for his quick thinking actions to save a life when Trooper John Hagerty rushed up a ladder to save a resident of an apartment complex in Middleboro when it went up in flames from an unattended candle in February, the Herald reported.
In April, Boston police 911 call taker Moneeka Colston was also in the news for directing officers to a man who had been stuck in a void in Back Bay station and staying on the line with him the whole time.
A Honda Accord involved in a June 10 collision with a State Police cruiser on Interstate 91 on June 10. The driver of the vehicle is suspected of driving in the wrong direction. (Courtesy / State Police Association of Massachusetts)