Easley Officer Matthew Hare fatally struck by an Amtrak train while trying to get a suicidal person off the tracks during a mental health episode.
Define hero? A rookie South Carolina police officer was fatally struck by an Amtrak train while attending to a suicidal person on the tracks.
Easley Officer Matthew Hare, 22, was killed around 6 a.m, Wednesday morning on the railroad tracks on the outskirts of Greenville, the police department said.
‘Officer Hare died saving the life of someone he did not know. Officer Hare was a hero,’ Lt. Ashley Anderson said during a press conference.
Rookie cop had only been on the force for 5 months
Hare — who had only been on the force for five months — and his partner had been searching for the suicidal person for an hour before the tragedy occurred.
Though the exact circumstances of the accident were not revealed, officials said Hare and his partner were removing the individual from the tracks when the commuter train plowed through.
Officer Hare was fatally struck. Neither the other officer nor the subject was injured.
Not immediately clear is whether the rookie cop was aware of the oncoming train and whether the train’s driver made warning sounds.
The suicidal person whom Hare had saved was taken into custody, though it’s not clear whether they were charged.
Fallen officer lauded
Amtrak’s Crescent train, which runs from New York to New Orleans, was delayed about seven hours. No one aboard was hurt, officials said.
WSAZ reported the two officers responded to a 5am morning call of a man experiencing a mental health crises. The distraught individual was located along railway tracks about an hour later, with the two officers attempting to get the ‘suicidal man’ off the tracks only for tragedy to strike.
According to the department, Hare graduated from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy in March 2023. The graduate soon after joined the Easley Police Department.
Multiple law enforcement agencies held a procession Wednesday afternoon to pay their respects to the fallen officer and a patrol car has been placed in front of the Easley department in honor of Hare.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating Hare’s death.
