SEPT 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 9

AROUND THE COUNTRY yrs.

AROUND THE COUNTRY yrs. EASLEY, SC. Easley Police Officer Matthew Hare was struck and killed by an Amtrak Train while trying to pull a suicidal subject off the tracks. BY Chalmers Rogland Officer Hare, 22, was struck and killed by an Amtrak Train as he tried to tried to pull a suicidal woman off the tracks. He was killed instantly when hit by the train. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was called to investigate the death alongside the coroner’s office as requested by the Easley Police Department. A Facebook post on the police department’s page said a call came in around 5 am of an individual threatening suicide on the train tracks. Hare and another officer located an individual on the railroad tracks around 6 am on the 2000 block of East Main St. in Easley. According to the department, while attempting to get the individual off of the tracks, Hare was hit by an oncoming train. Hare was pronounced dead by the coroner’s office at 6:20 am on the train tracks at Allen St. “While attempting to remove the person from the tracks, Officer Matthew Hare was struck by the train. Tragically, Officer Hare did not survive,” the statement read. “This loss is incredibly difficult 30 The BLUES OFFICER MATHEW HARE for The Easley Police Department and our community.” The second officer and train passengers were not injured. The individual on the tracks was also not injured and is in custody, according to the department. Hare’s body was escorted from the hospital in Anderson back to Easley Thursday evening. Lt. Anderson said Hare graduated from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy in March 2023, and had started with the department in October 2022. “He was doing exactly what he wanted to do, which was to help and serve others, and for that, we are incredibly grateful,” Anderson told The News Thursday afternoon. “He was always in very good spirits, and he was very close to some of his fellow officers. He is certainly greatly missed.” A memorial fundraiser has been set up for the family of an Easley police officer who died after being struck by a train on the 2000 block of East Main St. early Wednesday morning. Matthew Logan Hare with the Easley Police Department was attempting to assist an individual officials say was suffering a “mental health crisis.” So far, the fundraiser has raised over ,000. Lieutenant Ashley Anderson of the department said there is not an organized vigil scheduled right now, but the public is invited to come by the department to pay respects at a memorial set up outside the department office. Chalmers Rogland covers public safety for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal and USA Today Network. Reach him via email at crogland@gannett.com.

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