KINGSTON, N.H. (WHDH) - Police are searching for a hit-and-run driver who struck a retired police sergeant who was riding her bicycle through a town in New Hampshire on Tuesday morning.
Troopers responding to a report of a missing bicyclist in the area of Route 125 south near New Boston Road in Kingston around 8:30 p.m. found a bicycle and rider down an embankment off the shoulder of the highway, according to New Hampshire State Police.
The bicyclist, who police identified as 59-year-old Donna Briggs, a former Hudson police sergeant who had been living in Derry, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Surveillance video from a nearby business shows what investigators believe to be a blue GMC Yukon manufactured between 2000 to 2006 fleeing the area after hitting Briggs around 11:40 a.m., according to police.
It has moderate front-end damage to the passenger side of the front bumper and hood area.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Scott Douphinette, who works near the scene of the crash. “Whoever did it is in big trouble.”
Based on evidence recovered at the scene, police say they believe Briggs was struck from behind.
Briggs, who retired in 2013, was training for the Police Unity Tour. The event is ride from New Jersey to Washington, D.C. that helps raise money for fallen law enforcement officers.
Hudson Police Chief William Every remembered Briggs as a “model police officer who was caring and respected in the community.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact New Hampshire State Police at 603-545-4396.
An investigation remains ongoing.
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