CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) — A Chapel Hill police officer was killed in a vehicle collision Monday afternoon in Chatham County.
Officer Mike Mineer, 55, was a 19-year veteran of the Chapel Hill Police Department, according to a statement released Tuesday by Police Chief Celisa Lehew.
The full statement follows:
We are mourning the loss of one of our Guardians of the Hill. Yesterday, Officer Mike Mineer died in a vehicle crash in Chatham County.
Chief Celisa Lehew
Mike was a dedicated family man and a caring colleague. Our thoughts are with his family and friends—including his CHPD family—in this difficult time. We are doing all that we can to lift them up, and we ask that everyone give them the space they need to grieve.
Officer Mineer was a 19-year veteran of the Chapel Hill Police Department, most recently serving in the Patrol division.
Around 3:39 p.m. on Monday, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol responded to a fatal collision on U.S. 421 in Chatham County.
The initial investigation revealed that a log truck was stopped in the travel lane due to traffic ahead and an SUV driven by Mineer, of Bear Creek, failed to slow down, striking the log truck from behind, troopers said.
Failure to reduce speed is the proximate, or immediate, cause of the collision, the highway patrol said.
