By Associated Press - Wednesday, July 26, 2017

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Two people were killed when the van they were in collided with an N.C. Highway Patrol cruiser.

A statement from the state Department of Public Safety said Trooper H. T. Hooper was trying to make a traffic stop as he traveled west on U.S. 74 in Haywood County on Tuesday. The patrol said Hooper’s lights and siren were on.

According to the patrol, a van headed east on U.S. 74 made a U-turn into the path of the cruiser and collided with it. The patrol identified the people in the van as 84-year-old Robert Lee Nelson and 82-year-old passenger Esther Matilda Nelson, both of Eustis, Florida.



Hooper was hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The patrol is investigating the accident.

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