NC ECU Student Michael Higgins ID’d As Victim In Saturday Greenville Fatal Crash Involving Police Cruiser

PITT COUNTY, NC. (THECOUNT) — Michael Steven Higgins, of Hertford, North Carolina, has been identified as the victim in an early Saturday morning vehicle crash in Pitt County.

Higgins, 22, was killed in a single-vehicle crash near Greenfield early Saturday morning.

According to reports, Higgins was traveling as a passenger in a State Highway Patrol cruiser on Smithtown Road, when the vehicle exited the roadway while pursuing a suspected impaired driver around 1 a.m. Saturday. The vehicle then made contact with a utility pole and several substantial trees.

Higgins was pronounced dead of blunt force trauma at the scene.

Higgins, a senior at Eastern Carolina University, was participating in the Highway Patrol’s college internship program when the fatal incident occurred.

The driver, Trooper Omar Romero, was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

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Geo quick facts: Pitt County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 168,148, making it the seventeenth-most populous county in North Carolina. Its county seat is Greenville. Pitt County comprises the Greenville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area – Wikipedia.