MASSACHUSETTS TROOPER INJURED BY DRUNK DRIVER MAY RECEIVE A HIGHWAY HONOR
Ellen E. Engelhardt's daughter, Lora Tedeman, with the State Police breath-alcohol-testing unit, known as the BAT Mobile. (Rose Lincoln for the Boston Globe/file)
By Paul Kandarian, Globe Correspondent | July 26, 2007
Brian Gilmore, owner of Cape & Islands Shredding Service, never met Trooper Ellen E. Engelhardt, at least not formally. But he saw her smiling face every day, as did thousands of other motorists on Route 6 near Exit 7 on Cape Cod, where Engelhardt was a regular detail officer during highway reconstruction work.
"I . . . would wave to her, and she'd smile," Gilmore said. "That's something not a lot of state troopers on details do."
It was exactly four years ago today that Engelhardt of Marion was seriously injured on Route 25. Her parked cruiser was rear-ended by a vehicle operated by a drunk driver at nearly 100 miles per hour. She is now a resident of the Middleboro Skilled Nursing and Specialized Care Center, said her daughter, Lora Tedeman of Plymouth.
Doctors said Engelhardt, 54, is in a permanent vegetative state; she can no longer walk, talk, eat, or communicate.
Gilmore wanted to do something to commemorate Engelhardt for the many motorists for whom she was a familiar presence and "just to thank her for her service." Last year, he asked state Representative Cleon H. Turner, Democrat of Dennis, for permission to erect a roadside memorial in her honor. Gilmore said his landscaping company gladly would foot the bill.
But Turner went one better: He suggested naming the interchange off Exit 7 on the westbound side of Route 6 the "State Trooper Ellen Engelhardt Interchange."
"From all I'm told, she did a great job there, and this seems a fitting tribute," Turner said. "There aren't a lot of interchanges named after people. Bridges, yes, but naming an interchange is more unusual."
Those who knew Engelhardt before the accident said the tribute would be fitting.
Engelhardt had been a trooper for 22 years and was one of the first women to serve on the force. When she got the job, only 20 other women were serving as troopers, State Police officials said.
"She was always interested in police work. She wanted to be in the FBI, but at the time they weren't taking women," her daughter said. Her grandfather, John Engelhardt, had been a Boston police officer, Tedeman said. "She loved the work."
"You'll never find anyone who worked harder," said State Police Major Gerald Coletta, Troop D commander of the Middleborough barracks, where Engelhardt worked. Both graduated in the same class from the State Police Academy.
When Engelhardt started on the force, Coletta said, "Ellen was a little bit older than the rest of us, with a small child. Looking back, I realize how difficult it must have been for her. But she worked hard, determined to make it."
He said the morning Engelhardt was hit -- she had been back on duty only two months after being sidelined for nine months with injuries she received when her cruiser was struck by a drunk driver -- she had pulled over on Route 25 to examine a guardrail. It was part of her investigation of an earlier accident.
"She was following up," Coletta said. "As always, she was doing her job."
William P. Senne, now 24, of Wayland was charged with driving drunk after his Volvo slammed into Engelhardt's parked cruiser. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.
Working long, hard hours was in keeping with Engelhardt's character, Tedeman said.
"She'd do the detail frequently after the midnight shift, and she spoke of it often; she liked the work.
"She'd be honored by this. She wouldn't believe someone would do this for her, and we're really appreciative of it."
The interchange will not be the only honor: Last year, "Ellen's Bus" was unveiled, a mobile State Police breath-alcohol-testing unit, known as the BAT Mobile. The bus is outfitted with high-technology equipment, said Trooper Kevin Packard of the State Police Traffic Programs Division.
Turner said the legislation he has filed to name the interchange after Engelhardt might be approved by year's end.
Gilmore is eagerly awaiting that day.
"Public service is a difficult job, and we should thank those who do it," he said. "We don't want her to be forgotten."
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