Tractor-trailer driver charged in crash that killed NH trooper Staff Sgt. Jesse Sherrill

A tractor-trailer operator has been indicted, accused of causing the death of a New Hampshire State Police trooper by crashing into his cruiser on Interstate 95 in Portsmouth last fall.

Connecticut resident Jay Paul Medeiros, 43, has been charged with negligent homicide and reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, killing 44-year-old state police Staff Sgt. Jesse Sherrill on Oct. 28, 2021. 

Sherrill, a Barrington resident and assistant commander of the state police’s Epping-based Troop A unit, was inside his cruiser while detailing a rumble strip installation on the roadway when a tractor-trailer struck the cruiser. The nearly 20-year veteran of the state police force was transported to Portsmouth Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The crash:NH state trooper killed in crash with tractor-trailer on I-95 in Portsmouth

Authorities in court documents allege Medeiros had ingested marijuana no more than three days before the crash and was storing marijuana in the cab of the truck. The indictments further allege the tractor-trailer operator passed at least two advance warning signs and multiple emergency lights cautioning drivers about the construction zone.

Medeiros allegedly “failed to move over to the next lane and/or reduce his speed until the tractor-trailer was within approximately 11 feet of the construction zone or the lane where all the construction/emergency vehicles were parked/located,” the reckless conduct indictment reads.

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Both of Medeiros’ indictments were handed down by the court on Friday, May 6.

New Hampshire State Police Director Col. Nathan A. Noyes released a statement on the indictment Wednesday, but did not mention Medeiros by name. 

“The New Hampshire State Police are thankful to the Maine State Police and the Rockingham County Attorney’s Office for their extensive investigative work following this tragedy,” Noyes said in the prepared statement. “Staff Sgt. Sherrill is missed each and every day by his family, friends and State Police colleagues.”

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Medeiros is set to be arraigned at Rockingham Superior Court on June 17, with his case prosecuted by Rockingham County Attorney Patricia Conway. 

Sherrill’s death was the New Hampshire State Police’s 10th line of duty death in the agency’s 85-year history, the fourth stemming from an automobile crash. 

The most recent previous state police line of duty deaths occurred in August 1997, when troopers Leslie Lord and Scott Phillips were shot in Colebrook.

The day following the October fatal crash, Sherrill’s flag-draped casket was escorted to Dover’s Wiggin-Purdy-McCooey-Dion Funeral Home by a lengthy police escort that began in Concord. 

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Sherrill’s career in law enforcement began in 2001 when he was hired by the Hooksett Police Department. The next year, he was hired by the New Hampshire State Police, where he worked in various roles until the time of his death. 

It was not immediately known if Medeiros has an attorney.