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New Jersey State Trooper Killed After Patrol Car Hits Deer

A New Jersey State Police trooper was killed early Saturday after his patrol car struck a deer and veered off a highway in Monmouth County, the authorities said.

Trooper Anthony Raspa, 24, was driving east on patrol on Interstate 195 in Upper Freehold Township just before 1 a.m. when his Ford Crown Victoria hit the deer and ran off the right side of the road into trees. He was pronounced dead at CentraState Healthcare System in Freehold.

His partner, Trooper Gene Hong, 29, who was in the passenger seat, was treated for cuts and a neck injury from the crash. He was released from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton on Saturday morning, State Police Capt. Stephen Jones said.

“He’s very shaken,” Captain Jones said. He added that counselors had been speaking to other members of their troop, at the Hamilton station in Mercer County. Captain Jones said the troopers handled both general policing in smaller towns nearby and patrolling the highways.

Trooper Raspa and Trooper Hong had each been on the force for about a year and a half, Captain Jones said. Trooper Raspa, who lived in Middlesex County, graduated from the New Jersey State Police Academy in October 2013. Christopher J. Burgos, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association of New Jersey, said Trooper Raspa had quickly become a “model trooper among his peers.”

In a statement, released through the State Police on Facebook, Trooper Raspa’s family said: “While he is no longer physically with us, we are so grateful for the 24 years of love and loyalty we shared with him. Anthony was passionate about law enforcement and took great pride in being a N.J. State Trooper.”

No other vehicles were involved in the crash, which happened at 12:48 a.m. Captain Jones said that he believed both men were wearing seatbelts at the time, but that an accident investigation would officially make that determination.

Another New Jersey State Police trooper was killed on the same highway in 2010. Trooper Marc Castellano was on the shoulder of Interstate 195, searching for an armed man, when he was struck by a car.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 21 of the New York edition with the headline: New Jersey State Trooper Killed After Patrol Car Hits Deer. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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