Crime
The Newburyport man who allegedly struck the state trooper is also facing a charge of operating under the influence.
A Newburyport man is facing several charges after he allegedly struck a state trooper in a wrong-way highway crash Sunday morning.
Shortly before 2 a.m., a trooper from the State Police’s Danvers Barracks saw a wrong-way driver traveling south in the northbound lane of Route 1 in Peabody, State Police said in a statement. The trooper “took immediate action” and notified fellow troopers, the agency said.
The state troopers devised a plan to stop the wrong-way driver and protect the public by preventing other vehicles from entering the highway, police said. Minutes later, the driver struck one of the troopers in his marked cruiser, according to State Police.
Both the trooper and the driver were taken to a local hospital, police said. The trooper, whose identity has not been released, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver, Lucas Gustavo Brajak DeAlmeida Benedetto, 41, was released from the hospital later that day, according to State Police. He is charged with operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and driving the wrong way on a state highway.
DeAlmeida Benedetto is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Peabody District Court, police said. It was not immediately clear if he had hired an attorney.
Sunday’s incident marks the second wrong-way crash on Route 1 involving a Massachusetts state trooper this month. On May 6, Trooper Kevin Trainor was struck head-on in Lynnfield by Hernan Marrero, 50, of Roslindale. Both men died in the crash.
Trainor, 30, was among several troopers who responded just after 2 a.m. to reports of the wrong-way driver. He was laid to rest one week later in Salem.
After Trainor’s death, the Massachusetts Senate unanimously approved an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2027 budget requiring new infrastructure and multi-sensory warning devices on roadways. These protocols would include directional striping, signage, and lane delineators.
If the amendment is adopted into law, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation will “develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive system to prevent the occurrence of wrong way driving on limited access roadways,” according to the Senate. The organization would also be responsible for creating a new detection system to alert wrong-way drivers, public safety agencies, and other motorists.
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