A police officer in Carrollton, Texas, died Tuesday night after a passing vehicle hit his squad car as he was helping another officer in a DWI investigation.
Carrollton police announced early Wednesday, “We lost a beloved officer in the line of duty overnight."
Officer Steve Nothem was “backing up” another officer in a highway DWI investigation in the westbound lanes of the President George Bush Turnpike “when he was hit by a passing driver,” just before 10:30 p.m., police said.
Nothem was in his vehicle when it was struck, police said.
The driver who hit him, identified as Phillip Parker, 82, of Carrollton, which is about 20 miles north of Dallas, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nothem was taken to a hospital, where he was also pronounced dead, police said.
Police said fellow officers arrived at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Plano to escort Nothem's body to the Collin County medical examiner’s office Wednesday morning.
Nothem leaves behind his wife and four children: a 13-year-old son, twin 6-year-old sons and a 1-year-old daughter.
He joined the police department in March 2020 after having served with the Grand Chute, Wisconsin, Police Department for four years. He previously served in the Marine Corps.
Carrollton police said Nothem’s death is the department's first one in the line of duty.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.