Connecticut State Police say a trooper killed in a highway crash rear-ended a slow-moving tractor-trailer in the right lane.

Trooper 1st Class Kevin Miller died Thursday on Interstate 84 eastbound in Tolland. The truck driver, Melvin Purvis, of Wadley, Alabama, was not injured.

Authorities say Purvis was driving in the right lane slower than the traffic flow when his truck was struck by Miller’s cruiser. It’s not clear why Miller crashed into the rear of the truck and the cause remains under investigation.

Emergency responders lined the highway Thursday to pay their respects to Miller as his body was driven nearly 30 miles to the medical examiner’s office in Farmington.

Miller was a 19-year veteran and the 22nd trooper or auxiliary trooper killed in the line of duty since 1922.

(Associated Press, copyright 2018)