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On April 19, 1962, Trooper Harold Rupert, 34, was killed in the line of duty in an automobile crash during a pursuit of a car he had attempted to stop for traffic violations.
The chase had just crossed the state line into Pennsylvania when the vehicle Trooper Rupert was a passenger in tried to pass the suspect vehicle.
The suspect vehicle rammed the patrol car, causing it to collide with an oncoming tractor trailer.
Trooper Rupert received fatal injuries in the collision and his partner was seriously injured. The driver of the suspect vehicle later turned himself in after learning of the fatal accident
and was charged with involuntary manslaughter. He graduated from the Delaware State Police Recruit School on September 27, 1956 and was assigned to Troop 1, Penny Hill.
At the age of 34 he left behind his wife Abigail and five daughters; ages ten, nine, three, one and a baby to be born the following December. His children are: Colleen married Dennis Quinn and has four sons, Eric Jeremy, Sean and Christopher; Lorraine has four children, William, Kenneth, Joshua and Abigail; Patricia married C. Michael Scott and has one child, Ashley; Maria married Robert Thomas and has three children, Christina, Rebecca and Robert; and Kathleen married Eric Anderson and has two children, Emma and Eric. |