Authorities on Sunday night identified the stranded driver whom Maine State Police Detective Benjamin J. Campbell stopped to assist last week being fatally struck by a tire that fell off a logging truck on Interstate 95 in Hampden.

Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, identified the motorist as Robert John Anthony, 26, of Clifton, a town in Penobscot County.

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Maine State Police Detective Benjamin Campbel was fatally injured Wednesday when a wheel came loose from a logging truck and struck him as he was assisting a stranded motorist on Interstate 95 in Hampden. Maine State Police via AP

Attempts to reach Anthony on Sunday night were unsuccessful.

Under slippery conditions, Anthony’s car spun out of control Wednesday morning while heading southbound on I-95 in Hampden. Campbell, who lived in Millinockett, stopped to assist Anthony.

Two tires and wheel assemblies from a passing-tractor trailer truck came loose and one rolled into Campbell, killing him as he was trying to help Anthony. The second tire rolled harmlessly into the median. State police said Campbell’s death appeared to be the result of a freak accident.

Scott V. Willett, 52, of Patten was driving the logging truck. He is the owner and operator of Scott Willett Trucking.

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McCausland said Sunday night he is expecting that hundreds of police officers from around the nation and Maine will attend Campbell’s memorial service, scheduled to begin  at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.

McCausland said that representatives from 18 other state police and highway patrol agencies, along with members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, plan to attend the tribute to Campbell’s life and career. Campbell, 31, had a wife, Hillary, and a 6-month-old son, Everett. He joined the Maine State Police in 2012 and was promoted to detective in 2016.

Campbell, a member of the state police polygraph team, was on his way to a training session when he accident took place.

State police said that members of the public who plan to attend the law enforcement tribute to Campbell should park at the Maine Mall parking lot, 380 Gorham Road, South Portland. Shuttle buses, beginning at 8:30 a.m., will transport them to the Cross Insurance Center.

After the service, they should walk to the Portland Fish Pier at the intersection of Center and Commercial streets, where buses will transport them back to their parking locations.

Scott Willett Trucking had three equipment inspections in 2018, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which tracks truck inspections. The first was in February, when Maine State Police conducted a roadside inspection of a Freightliner truck and trailer and found no violations.

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But on two occasions later that year, police inspected another truck, a Kenworth model, and found a total of seven violations. During the first roadside inspection in June, they found that some of the truck’s tires were below the minimum tread depth and the truck was more than 5,000 pounds overweight.

A second, more detailed inspection of the same truck was conducted in November, and inspectors found continued tire tread problems, a fuel leak, brake problems and defects in the steering mechanism, which was “worn, welded or missing,” according to the federal records.

The last Maine state trooper killed in the line of duty was Detective Glenn Strange, who died of heart problems in October 1997 six days after he was punched and kicked in the chest by a drunken-driving suspect being arrested in Linneus.

Staff Writer Matt Byrne contributed to this report.


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