LOWELL, MASS. (WHDH) - A Haverhill man faces sentencing Monday after a jury found him guilty of negligent driving in connection with a crash that injured a Massachusetts State Police trooper who died two years later.
Trooper Thomas Devlin, 58, was in the breakdown lane conducting a traffic stop on Route 3 in Billerica in July 2018 when Kevin Francis swerved and struck him, authorities said. Devlin suffered serious head and leg injuries and after undergoing several surgeries, he died in 2020.
“Trooper Tommy Devlin was an amazing man, great trooper, friend — a trooper’s trooper,” said State Police Trooper’s Union President Patrick McNamara.
After Devlin passed away, prosecutors charged Francis with motor vehicle homicide, but those charges were downgraded last month after a medical examiner determined a rare brain disease contributed to Devlin’s death.
Devlin’s wife, Nancy, said the past four years have been gut-wrenching for her and her family.
“Somebody did not pay attention and did not move over and it just destroyed our lives,” she said. “He was the most amazing man I have ever known.”
Francis faces up to two years in prison.
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