Overview
- State police say a trooper from the Danvers barracks saw a vehicle going south in the northbound lanes of Route 1 on Sunday and minutes later a responding trooper's marked cruiser was struck, sending both the trooper and the wrong‑way driver to a hospital with non‑life‑threatening injuries.
- The driver was identified as 41‑year‑old Lucas Gustavo Brajak DeAlmeida Benedetto of Newburyport and faces charges including OUI liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and driving the wrong way on a state highway; he was scheduled for arraignment in Peabody District Court on Tuesday.
- Surveillance and gas‑station video obtained by local outlets show the vehicle entering the Lowell Street ramp and traveling the wrong way on Route 1 shortly before colliding with the cruiser, and those images are central to the criminal case.
- The crash occurred on the same stretch of Route 1 where Trooper Kevin Trainor was killed on May 6, marking a string of recent wrong‑way incidents that have put troopers at risk while they try to block motorists from entering the highway.
- Policy action is moving forward: MassDOT says 16 pilot detection sites are live, the state Senate unanimously approved an amendment to expand detection and countermeasures, lawmakers are studying Connecticut’s larger program as a model, and the measure now awaits House consideration and funding decisions.