A Massachusetts State Police trooper and a wrong-way driver were killed in a head-on crash in Lynnfield early Wednesday after dispatchers had warned that a gray Jeep was traveling the wrong way on Route 1. State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble later identified the trooper as Kevin Trainor, 30, a three-year veteran of the force.
Trainor was getting ready to head home from his shift around 2 a.m. when a 911 caller reported the wrong-way driver in the northbound lane. Several officers then responded to more 911 calls from motorists who saw the Jeep heading south in the northbound lanes, and one trooper spotted it near the Lynnfield tunnel, telling dispatch, “I have a wrong-way traveling south on north Route 1 by the Lynnfield tunnel heading towards Saugus.” He added, “Grey Jeep. Massachusetts plates.”
About 17 seconds after that warning, the trooper radioed that the vehicles had collided. “Code 16,” he said, using the crash designation, before adding, “Head-on. Start EMS. Two tows.” Noble said, “The vehicle, a Jeep, collided with Trooper Trainor’s cruiser head on,” and called the moment a case where “in the blink of an eye, those reckless actions stole Kevin.”
By Wednesday morning, the crash had become a line-of-duty death being discussed in blunt terms by state leaders. Governor Maura Healey said, “We lost a hero today,” while Brian Williams said Trainor was “commuting home when he selflessly responded to a call involving a wrong-way operator, putting himself in harm’s way” and that his actions reflected “the very essence of service and dedication to the communities we serve.”
The episode on Route 1 shows how quickly a routine patrol can turn fatal when drivers enter a highway the wrong way. Trainor, who had served three years with the Massachusetts State Police, was already moving to protect other motorists when the Jeep struck his cruiser head on. Noble said, “Trooper Trainor today saved lives this morning,” added that he was “willing to put his life on the line,” and said, “He will be remembered as a hero.”
What happens next is grief and review. Noble said, “We know that there are difficult days that lie ahead,” and the department and state leaders now face the loss of a trooper who officials said epitomized “what it means to be a public servant in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
