Benjamin Campbell, a 31-year-old detective with the Maine State Police Department, has been identified as the state trooper that was struck and killed on I-95 in Hampden, Maine, on the morning of Wednesday, April 3.
According to reports, Campbell was out of his cruiser at the site of a disabled car south of the Coldbrook Road overpass in Hampden shortly after 7:30 a.m. when he was struck and killed by a wheel that had come off a passing logging truck.
Following the “freak accident”, Southbound lanes at the crash site were closed and incoming traffic was diverted at or near exit 180, according to News Center Maine. Campbell was transported by ambulance to nearby Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, which is where he was later pronounced dead.
Campbell, originally from Easthampton, Maine, was promoted to Detective in the Maine State Police Department back in August of 2017.
While speaking to reporters, Colonel John Cote with the Maine State Police Department got choked up when discussing Campbell’s death, saying his passing “cuts deep” because the Main State Police is “like a family.”
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, this is the first time a Maine State Trooper has been killed in the line of duty in 22 years. In October of 1997, Maine State Trooper Det. Glenn Strange died of a heart attack while on the job.
Det. Ben Campbell is survived by his wife and young son.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Detective Campbell’s friends, family, and various loved ones during this extremely difficult time.
That is all the information that is available at this time. This article will be updated with new and relevant information should it become available at any time. If there is anything that we missed, please feel free to send an email to editor@teamcoed.com and we will respond as soon as possible.
