CMPD officer dies after tractor-trailers crash into police vehicles on I-85, chief says
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Officer Mia Goodwin death and funeral
Funeral arrangements are set for a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer who died in a wreck involving two semi-trucks on Interstate 85 on Dec. 22. Officer Mia Goodwin, 33, was killed and three other officers were injured.
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A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer was killed and three others were injured when two semi-trucks collided with each other then struck multiple CMPD vehicles on Interstate 85 on Wednesday morning, police said.
The crash led to a prolonged shutdown of the southbound lanes on I-85 near West W.T. Harris Boulevard.
Officer Mia Goodwin died at the scene, police Chief Johnny Jennings said. She was 33, according to public records.
“Rest easy hero, we have watch from here,” the chief said in a tweet about Goodwin.
Officers Shannon Foster, Sean Husk and Jackson Buffington were treated for injuries and released from a hospital, Jennings said during a news conference Wednesday morning.
The crash happened at 3:39 a.m. as the four police officers were assisting State Highway Patrol with directing traffic following a wreck that happened hours earlier.
All southbound lanes were shut down to allow for debris cleanup on the interstate from the earlier wreck, police said.
Sometime after a lane reopened around 1 a.m., the four officers arrived on the scene as relief, Jennings said. Goodwin was the last to arrive, he said.
Around 3:39 a.m., two semi-trucks collided with each other, sending the tractor-trailers into the officers and their vehicles, Jennings said.
Medic pronounced Goodwin dead on scene.
“We were very fortunate that we did have officers survive this collision,” Jennings said.
One of the truck drivers also was taken to a hospital, the chief said. The driver’s condition remains unknown.
It’s too early in the investigation to discuss possible charges or citations, Jennings said.
Keeping police safe on the road
Goodwin is the first traffic-related death involving a CMPD officer since the 1980s, Jennings said.
The chief said he didn’t have immediate answers on how to improve the safety of officers at accident scenes, but he suggested drivers take extra precaution “when there’s blue lights in the roadway.”
“When you don’t do that, you put the lives of men and women who are out there to serve and protect in danger,” he said. “I think that’s what we’re looking at today.”
Motor vehicle-related incidents are a leading cause of line-of-duty deaths for law enforcement officers in the United States, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. From 2011 to 2020, 454 officers died due to motor vehicle-related incidents.
During the same period, on average, one officer per week has been killed on roads across the U.S., according to the memorial fund.
All southbound lanes on I-85 reopened late Wednesday afternoon, though congestion was heavy in the area, the N.C. Department of Transportation said on its website.
Anyone who witnessed or has information about the crash can contact Detective Buckley at 704-432-2169, extension 6. Information can also be left anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or charlottecrimestoppers.com.
This story was originally published December 22, 2021 at 8:13 AM.
