Trooper Robert Hill Down (Virginia)
Police say an 84-year-old driver is to blame for a three car crash that killed a Virginia State Trooper.
Trooper Robert Hill died Friday afternoon, shortly after issuing a speeding ticket along Route 58 in Southampton County.
Trooper Hill was a 19-year veteran. On Friday night, troopers draped a cruiser in black in front of the barracks where trooper Robert Hill worked for the last 13 years.
Just four miles away more troopers, friends and family, gathered at Robert Hill's home, to comfort his wife and two children.
"(Hill was) trying to protect other people and then somebody else comes and takes his (life), that's not right," said Carolyn Denson, Robert Hill's cousin.
"I went over and gave my condolences to her," said Billy Brimberry, who's lived next door to the Hills for the last four years. "I told them anything they needed give me a call."
"Trooper Hill was a great man. He was a family man. He was a churchgoing man," remembered family friend Anthony Rawlings.
Friends also say Hill was a man of many talents. He was also a contractor who owned property from Smithfield to Suffolk.
"He's in the real estate business," said business associate Tisha Evans. "The community suffered a great loss."
"He builds housing on the side," recalled Franklin Mayor Jim Councill. "Low and middle income so people can have affordable housing."
Trooper Hill was also president of the Franklin-Southampton County Fraternal Order of Police. Marvia Woods Barnes was his secretary, and spoke with him this morning.
"We were conducting some lodge business," Woods Barnes said.
"Then I got a call. He was gone."
The driver of the car Trooper Hill stopped, Megan Cotrell of Virginia Beach, was taken to the hospital where she was treated and released.
The 84-year-old driver who police say caused the crash is Lowell Carrington from the Sunbean section of Southampton County.
Your Newschannel 3 spoke with Carrington's son Friday. Russell Carrington says his father was handicapped and had a handicapped license plate. He also says his father was had a drivers license. Lowell Carrington was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital for observation.
"When I say (my father) is okay, I mean he's not dead," Russell Carrington said from his home. "This has been hard on him and hard on all of us."
Police say Lowell Carrington has not been charged yet. Trooper Hill's funeral arrangements are being planned. He'll be buried with full honors.
Trooper Hill was born and raised in the Courtland area. Hill knew Seneca Darden, the Norfolk police officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty last spring. Darden also grew up in the Courtland area. The two officers were knew each other, and are considered hometown heroes.
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