Updated at 8:22 p.m.
A 20-year-old man has been charged in the death of a 19-year-old Rutland City police officer who died when his truck struck her cruiser head-on as he fled police pursuit, according to state police.
Tate Rheaume faces charges of grossly negligent operation of a motor vehicle and attempting to elude, both with death resulting, in the crash that killed Jessica Ebbighausen, of Ira, according to a Saturday evening press release from Vermont State Police.
Ebbighausen was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other officers, including a passenger in her vehicle and one driving another cruiser, and Rheaume were injured in the crash.
Ebbighausen had been working with the department for less than two months — since May 23 — as a part-time, Level 2-certified officer, police said. She was scheduled to begin training at the Vermont Police Academy next month to get her full-time certification.
On Saturday, nearly three dozen officers and first responders from Vermont escorted her body from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington back to Rutland in a procession along Route 7.
Rheaume remained at UVM Medical Center on Saturday afternoon, where his condition was “serious but stable,” police said. He was in state custody on $500,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Rutland on Monday.
Authorities said they would consider further charges as the investigation continues.
The episode began around 2:35 p.m. on Friday when a caller told Rutland dispatch that Rheaume was attempting to break into a home on East Washington Street, according to police.
Officer Jared Dumas was the first to arrive at the scene and found Rheaume’s truck. Rheaume began to drive away, prompting a chase, police said.
Dumas pursued Rheaume less than two miles from East Washington Street to Stratton Road to the intersection of Woodstock Avenue, aka Route 4.
Rheaume turned west on the thoroughfare, police said, as two additional cruisers were traveling east toward him in response. One was driven by Ebbighausen, with her supervising full-time officer, Richard Caravaggio, in the passenger seat, and the other was driven by Officer Kelsey Parker, state police said.
The crash happened at 2:53 p.m., police said.
“Evidence gathered at the scene indicates that Mr. Rheaume crossed the center line into the eastbound lanes and collided with Officer Ebbighausen’s cruiser, causing catastrophic damage to both vehicles,” police wrote. “Mr. Rheaume’s truck then struck the second eastbound Rutland police cruiser” driven by Parker.
Dumas’s cruiser was not involved in the collision.
Caravaggio, Parker and Rheaume were taken to Rutland Regional Medical Center. Parker was treated and released soon after, and Caravaggio was hospitalized overnight and released on Saturday. Rheaume was transferred to Burlington.
An autopsy conducted by the Medical Examiner’s Office found Ebbighausen’s cause of death was blunt force trauma, according to police. Neither Ebbighausen nor Caravaggio were wearing seat belts during the crash, police said.
In response to a request from Rutland Police Chief Brian Kilcullen, state police and officers from the Department of Fish & Wildlife provided “primary law-enforcement coverage” for the city from Friday night through Saturday morning, state police said. Rutland police had resumed patrols by Saturday night.
