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Route 301 overpass renamed in honor of fallen trooper Nathan-Michael Smith

Posted at 1:07 PM, Oct 21, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-21 13:24:48-04

PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. – Fallen state trooper Nathan-Michael Smith was honored Friday by a renamed 301 overpass in Prince George.

County and state police representatives, along with family, were there for the naming ceremony.

Smith, age 27, of Suffolk, died in September 2015,  when his cruiser flipped into the woods and hit several trees.

Police said he was responding to what he believed to be a fellow trooper in distress when he lost control of his cruiser on the ramp from Interstate 295 south to Interstate 95 north in Prince George County.

He was flown to VCU Medical Center, where he later died.

It was later determined that the troopers understood the initial radio call as a citizen administering CPR to a trooper at the Route 460 crash scene. When, in fact, it was a trooper and citizen administering CPR to the driver of the pickup truck.

Smith was the 61st sworn employee to die in the line of duty.

Virginia State Police said 1,200 people attended his funeral, held at St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Henrico. Among the attendees, 250 family members, Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and state troopers from across the country, including California and Washington. One trooper traveled across the country from Colorado to attend Smith’s funeral.

Trooper Smith was survived by a wife and two young children.

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