NC trooper hit by vehicle on I-485 returns to duty after over year of recovery

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) – A North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper who was struck and critically injured by a vehicle on Interstate 485 last year is returning to work Monday, officials said.

Trooper Adolfo Lopez-Alcedo was seriously injured when he was hit on July 4, 2020, while responding to a deadly, multi-vehicle crash that left five people dead near the off-ramp to WT Harris Boulevard.

Lopez-Alcedo was outside of his vehicle and was attempting to shut down traffic when a vehicle crashed into his patrol car, slamming his patrol car into him.

“We didn’t know if he would survive much less make such a miraculous recovery,” NC Highway Patrol said last September when the trooper returned home after spending 84 days in the hospital.

The driver accused of striking Trooper Lopez-Alcedo on I-485 was arrested and charged with felony failure to move over causing serious injury/death, records show.