Funeral For State Trooper Severely Hurt In 2003 Crash
MARSHFIELD (CBS/AP) - A pioneering Massachusetts state trooper was laid to rest Monday.
Funeral services for Trooper Ellen Engelhardt were held at St. Christine's Catholic Church in Marshfield.
Engelhardt was one of the department's first female troopers. She was the first woman Massachusetts trooper to die in the line of duty.
She passed away last week nearly eight years after suffering "traumatic and life-altering injuries" when a speeding drunk driver struck her cruiser.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports
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Witnesses told police that the driver was driving 90 miles per hour when he hit Engelhardt's cruiser in the breakdown lane of Route 25 in Wareham in July 2003.
WBZ-TV's Bill Shields reports.
The driver, William Senne of Wayland, pleaded guilty to drunken driving and was sentenced in 2005 to 2 1/2 years in prison.
Capt. Patricia Driscoll was a classmate of Engelhardt at the police academy. She remembered how hard Engelhardt worked as a single mother.
"We saw what she went through and she gave us the inspiration to make it. She never complained. She always had a smile on her face," Driscoll said.
Engelhardt's daughter accepted her mother's State Police hat at the end of the services.
"She was a person who was true to herself and everything she did came from her heart. She was just a great person," said State Police Superintendent Col. Marian McGovern.
WBZ-TV's Bill Shields contributed to this report.
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