Duty Death: Jeffrey Wayne Greene - [Union County]
End of Service: 18/11/2014
By Steve Lyttle
The Charlotte Observer
UNION COUNTY, N.C. — A sergeant with the Union County Sheriff’s Office was killed Wednesday morning when a tractor-trailer struck a tanker truck and then tumbled onto the officer’s patrol car in Monroe, authorities said.
The officer was identified as Sgt. Jeffrey Wayne Greene, 54, a 10-year veteran of the sheriff’s office.
The driver of the truck, identified by the N.C. Highway Patrol as Eddie Weeks, faces misdemeanor death by vehicle charges, troopers said.
The crash was reported shortly after 7 a.m. on westbound U.S. 74 at Sutherland Avenue, near Carolinas Medical Center-Union. According to authorities, a tractor-trailer collided with the back of a tanker truck and overturned, landing on the patrol car.
Greene’s patrol car was in the left turn lane on westbound U.S. 74, waiting to turn onto Sutherland Avenue toward the hospital.
Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey said Greene joined the sheriff’s office in December 2004. Cathey described Greene as “a personal friend” and said the officer was active in the community. Officials with the sheriff’s office said Greene was an organizer of a fund raising motorcycle ride last weekend to help a deputy who had suffered a stroke.
Flags were lowered to half-staff across Union County after word of Greene’s death spread Wednesday morning.
The N.C. Highway Patrol brought a special accident reconstruction team to the scene via helicopter, while dozens of Monroe police, sheriff’s deputies and Highway Patrol troopers spent several hours at the site of the wreck. U.S. 74 was closed for several hours, with traffic on the heavily traveled route detoured through downtown Monroe.
The tanker truck, which did not suffer significant damage, pulled away from the wreck scene about 10:45 a.m. A short time later, an ambulance arrived to remove the body of the officer from the patrol car, which was still partially covered by the tractor-trailer.
Crews began the process of removing the tractor-trailer shortly before noon.
Copyright 2014 The Charlotte Observer