GOVERNMENT
By Michelle Cassell
Assignment Editor/Correspondent
CHAPEL HILL — Chapel Hill Police are grieving after the death of veteran officer Mike Mineer.
North Carolina State Highway Patrol public information officer Sgt. Christopher Knox told TLR Mineer was driving on U.S. Hwy. 421 in Chatham County and “failed to reduce speed for a log truck that had stopped in the travel lane because of traffic. The sport-utility vehicle that Mineer was driving hit the log truck around 3:39 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Mineer, 55, was a 19-year member of the CHPD, serving most recently in the patrol division. According to Lehew’s post, Mineer had also worked in the investigation division and was a U.S. Army veteran who served from 1987 to 1991.
“We are mourning the loss of one of our Guardians of the Hill,” Chief Celisa Lehew posted on social media Wednesday morning. “Yesterday, Officer Mike Mineer died in a vehicle crash in Chatham County.”
“Mike was a dedicated family man and a caring colleague. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends – including his CHPD family in this difficult time,” Lehew’s post continues.“We are doing all that we can to lift them up, and we ask that everyone give them the space they need to grieve.”
Why is this news? People die in traffic accidents all the time, and it sounds like he was the cause of the accident.
We need to stop glorifying cops and treat them just as people.