PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia State Police are mourning the loss of one of their own after a trooper was killed in a crash while responding to a fatal accident Monday morning.
The crash happened on the ramp from I-295 south to I-95 north in Prince George County.
Police say 27-year-old trooper Nathan-Michael W. Smith of Henrico was responding to a single vehicle crash on Route 460, took the ramp too fast, lost control and crashed into trees. The officer was extricated from his cruiser. He was flown to VCU Medical Center with life-threatening injuries where he later died.
Smith was a member of the 121st Basic Session and graduated from the Academy June 6, 2014. The Suffolk, Va., native was assigned to the Richmond Division Area 7 Office, which includes the cities of Hopewell
and Petersburg, and the counties of Dinwiddie, Nottoway and Prince George. Trooper Smith was assigned for patrol to Prince George County. He is survived by his parents, wife and two children.
“As you can imagine, when you hear that kind of radio traffic coming through, the other troopers in the immediate area began responding to that scene, however it turned it out it was one of the troopers administering CPR at the crash scene,” stated Virginia State Police spokesperson Corrine Geller as she tried to explain how the day’s events are taking a toll on both law officers and civilians. “Well, I hate to speak because I’m not the trooper on the road obviously, but when it comes to state police we’re family whether you’re sworn or civilian you’re family, and these kinds of scenes, these kinds of incidents are not easy and it never gets any easier,” stated Geller.
Governor Terry McAuliffe expressed his condolences via twitter.
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The crash the trooper was responding to occurred when a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 pick up truck ran off the right side of the road on Route 460 in Dinwiddie County and struck a guardrail. The driver of the Dodge was transported to Southside Medical Center where he later died as well.
State Police are investigating.
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