PEABODY, MA — The body of Massachusetts State Police Trooper Kevin Trainor, who died on Wednesday morning from injuries suffered when his cruiser was hit head-on by a wrong-way driver on Route 1 earlier that morning, was to be brought from the State Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Boston to a Peabody Funeral Home by way of a dignified transfer on Thursday night, according to emergency services reports.
The procession was set to leave the office on Albany Street in South Boston at 7 and travel to Route 93 northbound, to Route 95 northbound, to Exit 38 at Centennial Drive and Forest Drive in Peabody.
The procession was then to go down Centennial Drive to Summit Street, crossing Lynnfield Street, to County Street and into the Conway-Cahill Brodeur Funeral Home lot at 82 Lynn Street.
Police and Fire Department personnel were expected to line overpasses and bridges, as well as parts of the highway, during the procession.
A growing memorial has also been set up at the State Police Barracks in Danvers.
The funeral home said visiting hours were set for Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m., with a funeral mass celebrating Trooper Trainor's life set for Wednesday at 11 a.m. at St. James Church on Federal Street in Salem.
Trainor was hailed as a "hero" whose courageous act to intercept a wrong-way driver on Route 1 following his shift at 2 a.m. "saved lives."
The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Trainor was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital where he was pronounced dead hours later.
The 30-year-old Trainor was born in Beverly and grew up in Salem. He graduated from Salem High School and Salem State University with a Bachelor's Degree in criminal justice.
He worked in the Essex County Sheriff's Department as a corrections officer at the Middleton Jail and House of Correction before he became part of the 88th Recruit Training Troop of the State Police Academy in 2023.
He served in the MSP for three years before his death.
Trainor was living in Georgetown with his fiancée, Jessica Ostrowski.
The Essex County District Attorney's Office late Wednesday afternoon identified the accused wrong-way driver as Hernan Marrero, 50, of Roslindale. The Essex DA's Office said the crash remains under investigation and did not indicate a possible reason why Marrero was traveling in the wrong direction.
"Make no mistake," State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble said at a Wednesday news conference. "Trooper Trainor saved lives this morning. His courage, his commitment to serve the citizens of the Commonwealth, and even being willing to put his life on the line, which he did today, prevented an even greater tragedy.
"I'm confident that if this tragedy had not occurred, there would have been countless other tragedies down the road.
"He is a hero."
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