BARNARD, Vt. — Drugs and alcohol are not believed to be factors in the single-car crash in Vermont that seriously injured former FBI director Louis Freeh, state police said Tuesday.
Freeh, who led an investigation into the child sex abuse scandal at Penn State and issued a scathing report, was alone in his SUV and wearing a seat belt when he drove off the road shortly after noon Monday, striking a mailbox and a row of shrubs before coming to a stop on the side of a tree, according to state police.
A preliminary investigation found no indication that drugs or alcohol were involved, they said.
The New Hampshire hospital where police say Freeh was taken is not releasing information about his condition. State police on Monday said he was “seriously injured.”
The accident happened in Barnard, a small town about 120 miles northwest of Boston.
No one else was hurt.
“The thoughts and prayers of the entire FBI remain with former Director Freeh and his family tonight,” FBI Director James Comey said in a statement Monday.
Freeh, 64, was a federal judge in New York before serving as FBI director from 1993 to 2001. He previously served six years as a special agent. He founded his consulting firm, Freeh Group International Solutions LLC, in 2007.
In 2011, Penn State hired Freeh to examine the handling of child sex abuse complaints involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and to recommend changes aimed at preventing abuse.
Following an eight-month, $6.5 million investigation, Freeh issued a blistering report contending that legendary head football coach Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials concealed what they knew about Sandusky’s sexual abuse of children for more than a decade ago to avoid bad publicity.
Sandusky was convicted in June 2012 on 45 criminal counts.
Freeh also has handled other high profile matters, including a bribery case involving the presidential election within FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, and a review of the financial settlement program for Gulf Coast residents affected by the BP oil spill.
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