Local News

Wrong-way driver who hit Endicott College police sergeant charged with motor vehicle homicide

The New Hampshire State Police also unveiled new details from the investigation.

The driver of the vehicle that fatally crashed into an Endicott College Police sergeant has been charged with motor vehicle homicide, officials announced Tuesday. Courtesy Photo

By Lindsay Shachnow

December 3, 2024

1 minute to read

The driver of the vehicle that crashed into an Endicott College Police Sergeant who died early Thanksgiving morning has been charged with motor vehicle homicide, officials announced Tuesday.

Jeremy Cole

Keoma Duarte, 40, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, crashed into officer Jeremy Cole, 49, of Exeter, New Hampshire on I-95 in Newbury, while driving the wrong way, authorities said.

Officials said state troopers watched the vehicle as law enforcement prepared a tire-deflation device in Georgetown, but before Duarte’s Tesla reached the device, the wrong-way vehicle struck Cole’s Chevrolet Trailblazer.

Cole was declared deceased at the scene, according to police, and Duarte was transported via MedFlight to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston with serious injuries.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Duarte was initially traveling northbound on I-95 in Hampton before entering the parking lot of the northbound NH Liquor & Wine Outlet, which was closed at the time, New Hampshire State Police said in a statement Tuesday.

Surveillance footage shows Duarte driving through the lot before departing from the entrance at approximately 11:45 p.m., police said.

Duarte was first seen by a New Hampshire State Trooper on patrol in the area less than one minute after he drove onto the road in the wrong direction.

Duarte is charged with motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence of liquor and operating recklessly, manslaughter, and motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation, the Office of Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker announced Tuesday. Duarte also faces civil motor vehicle infractions for driving in the wrong direction on a state highway, speeding, and marked lanes violation.

Duarte is expected to be arraigned in Newburyport District Court via Zoom Tuesday.

The incident is still under investigation by the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) Troop A detectives, MSP Newbury, Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, and Crime Scene Services Section, as well as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and members of the Essex County District Attorney’s Office.