20-year-old Somerset woman identified in fatal crash with police cruiser

The crash occurred around 12:30 a.m. Friday in the area of Riverside Avenue and Westhill Avenue

SOMERSET — A 20-year-old Somerset woman died in a head-on collision with a police cruiser just after midnight Friday.

Hailey Allard was driving north on Riverside Avenue at 12:35 a.m. when her Honda Civic collided with a cruiser heading south on the street.

The cruiser, a marked Ford Explorer, was en route to a call of a break into a car, according to Police Chief George McNeil. McNeil declined to identify the officer involved in the accident.

Allard was pronounced dead on her arrival at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River. The officer was taken to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence for treatment of injuries that included a probable concussion, McNeil said. He was released following treatment.

"We heard a large crash," said Kristen Teixeira of Newhill Avenue, about 100 yards from the accident. "We ran down there within 20 seconds after it happened.

"The car was still spinning. The police cruiser was in the bushes. It hit the pole.

"The officer was out, trying to help the woman. He couldn't get the door open. It appeared he was in shock. The other officers arrived. They couldn't get in. They broke the window and got in through the back and began CPR.

"The officer in the accident was still trying to help until the other officers told him to sit."

Allard was shocked with defibrillator paddles and given oxygen before she was pried from the car and taken away by rescue, Teixeira said.

Riverside Avenue was closed to traffic at Newhill Avenue and Longhill Avenue until 9:45 a.m., when work crews finished installing a new utility pole and reconnecting wires.

Somerset Police as well as investigators with the State Police began an accident reconstruction well before dawn.

"There were quite a few witnesses interviewed," McNeil said. The results on the investigation will include an estimate of the speeds involved by the vehicles and will look for an explanation of the head-on collision. He could not comment on the facts of the crash until that investigation was more complete, McNeil said.

Witnesses reported the car driven by Allard was turning onto Westhill Avenue.

The police cruiser was en route to a call of someone breaking into a parked vehicle, McNeil said.

"Two officers responded," McNeil said. "One officer arrived at the scene. The second officer collided with a car."

All the available personnel went to the crash scene to assist, McNeil said.

Somerset officers notified Allard's relatives of the accident, McNeil said. A critical incident debriefing team was called in to speak to the officers involved in the call. That is standard procedure after a traumatic incident involving officers, McNeil said.

The Bristol County District Attorney's office was also involved in the investigation. That office released Allard's name at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

In a Facebook post issued by the Somerset Police Department at 8:45 a.m., they report the officer was responding to a report of a truck being broken into at the Grid Iron Pub.

"We are all saddened by this horrible tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the person who passed away," the statement concluded.

 

 

 

Somerset Police Chief George McNeil said his officers notified the family of the woman killed in a crash early this morning.pic.twitter.com/BDXUrIrgWZ

— Kevin P. O'Connor (@HNKPO)August 10, 2018