CERESCO, Neb.– A veteran police officer was killed when his cruiser was struck by another vehicle after making a traffic stop in eastern Nebraska, authorities said Saturday.
The Nebraska State Patrol said in a news release that Ceresco Police Officer Ross Bartlett, 54, stopped a car about a mile south of Ceresco on Highway 77 on Friday around 7:30 p.m. Both vehicles were parked on the shoulder and the driver and officer were both seated in their vehicles when a pickup truck rear-ended the police car, pushing it into the stopped car, the State Patrol statement said.
First responders arrived a few minutes later to find bystanders trying to help Bartlett and the others involved in the crash. He flew to a hospital in Lincoln, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver of the car, a 27-year-old man from Lincoln, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the pickup, a 49-year-old man from the city of Crete, was not seriously injured.
Bartlett served as an officer with the Ceresco Police Department since 2017 and as an investigator for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, the State Patrol said. He also served on the Ceresco Volunteer Fire Department. He left behind a wife and daughter.
“He really brought a lot to our department,” a shocked Ceresco Police Chief Tony Hernandez said at a news conference. “He wrote many of our grants. … He was a very, very professional officer. And his personality was outstanding. I will miss him dearly, and I am blessed that our paths crossed.”
Funeral services were pending. Governor Jim Pillen ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until 5 p.m. on the day of the officer’s funeral.
“This is a terrible loss for those who worked with Officer Bartlett through NDCS and those in the community who knew him through his law enforcement work,” Pillen said in a statement. “He was a dedicated public servant who answered the noble call to serve. in various communities over his 30-year career.”
The governor’s office said Bartlett started as an officer with the Valentine Police Department and then served with the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, Madison Police Department, Madison County Sheriff’s Department and Newman Grove Police Department.
The State Patrol said it would submit its findings from the crash investigation to the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office for a charging decision.
Ceresco is located about 20 miles north of Lincoln.