A surge in job-related injuries for troopers struck by intoxicated or impaired motorists is causing concerns for public safety officials.
Trooper Ellen EnglehardtMonday's funeral for a Massachusetts State Trooper who succumbed to injuries from an 8-year-old incident involving a drunken driver who crashed into her vehicle illustrates the dangers facing troopers, dozens of whom have been injured on state roads over the past year.
Trooper Ellen Englehardt died Wednesday from injuries sustained in a July 2003 incident in Wareham, where a speeding drunk driver plowed into her parked cruiser and seriously injured the veteran trooper, according to David Procopio, a state police spokesman.
Procopio said the death of Engelhardt, whose funeral will be held Monday in Marshfield, marks the 32nd state police trooper killed in the line of duty since the department's creation in 1865.
Ellen Englehardt, left, and the man who crashed into her police cruiser, William Senne, who apologized to the trooper for the 2003 drunken-driving incident that left her with debilitating injuries.Boston police said Cara Dellabarba, 28, of Weymouth, was drunk and driving the wrong way when she crashed into Trooper Brian Quigley on May 28. Dellabarba denied charges of operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident at her arraignment last week.
Police said Dellabarba attempted to flee after crashing head-on with Quigley's cruiser. ate
Quigley is one of 45 state troopers injured since Jan. 1, 2010, with about half of those incidents involving drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to state police officials. The dramatic rise in trooper strikes over the past year has prompted the commanding officer of the state police to make a public appeal for motorists to slow down and watch out for troopers working the state's highways.
Accompanied to court by her parents, Cara Dellabarba , right, 28, was arraigned in Dorchester District Court in Boston on May 31. She's accused of driving drunk on May 28, traveling the wrong way on Morrissey Boulevard in Boston and hitting State Trooper Brian Quigley's cruiser head-on. Quigley was treated at Boston Medical Center and released. Englehardt managed to hold on for several years after her incident. But she ultimately succumbed to her "debilitating injuries," Procopio said.
Englehardt was struck by motorist William Senne, of Wayland and Cape Cod, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in the Plymouth County Jail & House of Correction. He also was ordered to serve probation and to perform 500 hours of community service.
Engelhardt was seated in her cruiser, which was parked along the shoulder of Route 25 in Wareham, when Senne hit her car.
Meanwhile, a popular running race was named in Englehardt's memory, and a Mid-Cape Highway interchange on Cape Cod was dedicated to her. Englehardt was a longtime fixture at Exit 7 of the Mid-Cape Highway (Route 6) in Yarmouth, where she often was seen directing traffic.