Man dead after head-on crash with Secret Service agents in New Hampshire
Bruce Danforth, 45, was driving his four-door Mercury Sable north on Route 16 early Tuesday evening when his car crossed into oncoming traffic and slammed into a Ford Taurus carrying the on-duty Secret Service agents, local police said in a statement.
Danforth died at the scene; his two passengers — Natasha Meroski, 35, and Kristina Buswell, 21 — were taken to area hospitals, as were the four Secret Service agents.
“At this time, our personnel have sustained what is described as serious, but non-life-threatening injuries,” Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy said in a statement provided to The Washington Post. “Please join us as we keep all the victims of this accident and their families in our thoughts and prayers.”
The Secret Service agents did not belong to any particular candidate’s protective detail, but instead were part of a “jump team,” working as additional security and standing post at campaign events. They were en route from one campaign event to another at the time of the accident, a government official said.
All are believed to have worked in field offices in the New England area.
Hillary Clinton was traveling between campaign stops in the area around the same time as the accident, greeting a crowd in Berlin, N.H., by describing the drive to the town hall as challenging. New Hampshire saw its first big snow of the season Tuesday, making roads dangerous throughout the state.
Tuesday’s deadly collision underscores the dangers — to Secret Service agents and others — of a job that requires crisscrossing the nation to protect politicians and foreign dignitaries.
In 2012, an undercover agent struck and killed a Brooklyn mother of five. Two Secret Service vehicles fatally struck a pedestrian in Maryland early one rainy morning in 2009.
Agents have died in such accidents, too. In 2008, Hillary Clinton canceled a campaign rally after one of her Secret Service escorts was killed in a Dallas accident. And, in 1983, three agents assigned to protect Queen Elizabeth II were killed in Yosemite National Park after their vehicle was hit by a local sheriff’s patrol car.
Anne Gearan contributed to this post, which has been updated.
Niraj Chokshi is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post.
Carol Leonnig covers federal agencies with a focus on government accountability.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/12/30/new-hampshire-man-dead-following-head-on-collision-with-secret-service-agents/