PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — The driver of a tractor-trailer has been indicted in connection to the death of a New Hampshire State Police trooper in an October 2021 crash on Interstate 95 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
The Portsmouth Herald reports that Jay Paul Medeiros, 43, of Connecticut is charged with negligent homicide and reckless conduct with a deadly weapon in the death of state police Staff Sgt. Jesse Sherrill.
Sherrill was inside his cruiser while detain a rumble strip installation on the roadway when the tractor-trailer driven by Medeiros struck the cruiser. The veteran of nearly two decades was transported to Portsmouth Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Court documents allege that Medeiros had ingested marijuana within three days before the crash and claimed that he was storing marijuana in the cab of the truck. The indictments also accuse Medeiros of driving the tractor-trailer passed at least two advance warning signs and multiple emergency lights cautioning drivers about the construction zone.
Documents said that Medeiros “failed to move over to the next lane and/or reduce his speed until the tractor-trailer was within approximately 11 feet of the construction zone or the lane where all the construction/emergency vehicles were parked/located.”
Both of Medeiros’ indictments were handed down Friday, May 6. It was not known if he has an attorney.
“Sherrill’s death was the New Hampshire State Police’s 10th line of duty death in the agency’s 85-year history, the fourth stemming from an automobile crash,” according to the Portsmouth Herald.
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