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‘Devastating loss’: Mass. trooper killed on duty in crash with oil tanker on I-93
Trooper Tamar Bucci, 34, was attempting to help a driver in a disabled vehicle at the time of the crash, authorities said.
A Massachusetts State Police trooper was killed while on duty late Thursday night when the driver of an oil tanker struck her cruiser as she attempted to help a stopped motorist on Interstate 93 in Stoneham, authorities said Friday.
The crash that killed Trooper Tamar Bucci, 34, of Woburn, happened around 11:45 p.m. on the highway’s northbound side, according to State Police Col. Christopher Mason.
The impact of the crash pushed Bucci, in her marked Ford Interceptor cruiser, off the road, he said.
Two good Samaritans pulled Bucci from her damaged SUV, and a Stoneham police officer who came upon the scene performed CPR until Bucci was brought to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, Mason told reporters at a press conference.
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“Late last night, on a stretch of road that she protected every night during the midnight shift, Trooper Bucci gave her life in the act of trying to help another person in distress,” Mason said shortly after sunrise Friday morning. “There is no greater act of sacrifice than to give one’s life for another.”
The department is “devastated by her loss,” Mason said.
“We are eternally grateful for the attempts of everyone involved to assist Trooper Bucci and to save her life,” he said.
The driver of the disabled vehicle suffered nonlife-threatening injuries and was treated at an area hospital, Mason said.
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The driver of the tanker, a Methuen man who was towing approximately 10,000 gallons of gasoline at the time of the crash, was not injured and is cooperating with the police investigation, Mason said.
The tanker is owned by Methuen-based PJ Murphy Transportation, according to State Police. No charges had been filed as of Friday morning.
A member of the State Police Medford Barracks, Bucci joined the department nearly two years ago. She previously served in the Brookfield barracks before she was reassigned to Medford in January, Mason said.
Trooper Patrick McNamara, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, called Bucci’s death a “tragic and senseless loss of life.”
“Trooper Bucci is not just a co-worker to us. She is our sister,” McNamara said. “We are heartbroken by this devastating loss to our membership.”
In a statement shared on Twitter, Gov. Charlie Baker said Bucci “embodied the best of the Massachusetts State Police.”
Baker ordered flags at all state buildings to be lowed to half-staff in Bucci’s honor.
“Her loss is devastating to her loved ones, the Commonwealth, and her brothers and sisters in blue,” Baker said. “Our sincere and heartfelt thoughts are with Trooper Bucci’s family during this heartbreaking time.”
Bucci graduated the State Police Academy in May 2020 — the graduating class honored at a ceremony at an empty Gillette Stadium earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Mason.
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Before joining the State Police, Bucci worked for the security department at Encore Boston Harbor in Everett and also worked as a personal trainer, Mason said. She was a graduate of Middlesex Community College and of Andover High School.
Bucci is survived by her parents, two sisters, a step-brother, and a step-sister, Mason said.
“She always had the dream and aspiration to be a trooper,” Mason said. “She worked very hard during the academy, according to her classmates and according to the drill staff.”
Mason said Bucci was a “very productive member of our department.”
“She was well-liked. She was a person that put family first, faith first,” Mason added. “And I understand she had a passion for fitness … friends tell me that she offset her sweet tooth with that passion for fitness.
“She will certainly be missed,” he said.
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