PALMYRA — A granite monument will be unveiled in Palmyra on Friday, July 10, to honor a Maine state trooper who was killed in the line of duty 18 years ago at the site.

Trooper Tom Merry, who was 28 at the time, was run down and killed by a speeding vehicle being pursued by other law enforcement officers on July 12, 1980. He was the fifth state trooper to have been killed in the line of duty in Maine, according to Maine State Police spokesman Stephen McCausland. Merry joined the state police in 1977. A total of nine state police officers have been killed while on duty since the department’s creation.

The new bridge over the Sebasticook River on Route 2 in Palmyra will be dedicated in Merry’s memory. A resolve was drafted and pushed through the Legislature by Rep. Vaughn Stedman, R-Hartland, to make the dedication possible. Stedman sponsored the legislation at the request of several residents who remembered the fallen trooper.

Merry was killed when he and another officer set up a roadblock at the end of the old iron bridge that was removed last year. A new, wider bridge was constructed and finished in the fall of 1997.

“I can remember it like it was yesterday,” said retired Trooper Paul Davis. “It was a tough night.”

Davis was on patrol in Guilford when the communications center in Augusta directed him to “get to Palmyra ASAP.”

“They [Augusta] had called his number time and time again — and no answer,” Davis said in a recent interview. “So I beat feet for Palmyra.”

It was about midnight, Davis said.

Only minutes earlier, Merry had been assisting a Hartland constable, the late Arnold Halford, with a rollover nearby, according to Merry’s mother, Erla. Sgt. Arthur Roy reportedly picked Merry up at the scene to take him to assist with a high-speed chase under way in Palmyra.

Roy and Merry had just enough time to set up a roadblock at the west end of the iron bridge. Merry did not have time to get out of the way before the suspect vehicle streaked over the bridge, striking the police cruiser and him. He was thrown to the side of the road by the impact, and his boots were thrown in the opposite direction, Davis said. The police cruiser was pushed more than 100 feet down the road, according to published reports.

Roy was not injured.

When Davis arrived, he found two very distraught troopers at the scene, Roy and Carroll Crandall. They were directed to other duties, and Route 2 was shut down to through traffic for the remainder of the night as state and law enforcement officials arrived on the scene.

It would be daylight before Merry’s body was removed and officers began to clear the scene. When the roadway opened again, two demolished cars remained as a reminder of the horrific crash.

Erla Merry learned that her son had been killed early that morning when a state trooper came to her home, she recalled recently. Tom Merry left a wife, Deborah, and a 2-month-old son, Benjamin. Troopers and a trooper’s wife also were sent to Deborah Merry’s home in Detroit.

The Merry family will be well-represented at Friday’s dedication, Erla Merry said. Tom Merry had four brothers and one sister, all of whom are expected for the ceremonies. She expects Benjamin and Deborah Merry also will attend. Benjamin turned 18 this year and will be a senior at Lawrence High School in Fairfield in the fall.

“You will never have any idea how many nice people I’ve met because of this — incident,” Erla Merry said. “And going to the Legislature [to testify on laws proposed after Tom Merry’s death], some legislat

She and her late husband, John, met some of their son’s friends and acquaintances after Tom Merry’s death, and maintained the friendships. John Merry died a year ago after a bout with cancer, she said.

The mother doesn’t call her son’s death an accident.

“It was no accident,” she said.

Merry’s death and the high-speed chase that preceded it created one of many debates on the merits of police chases. Police actions that night were criticized later because the driver of the car that struck Merry was known to local police and had been stopped earlier in the evening.

Kendall Veilleux, then 20, of Pittsfield was charged with manslaughter, reckless driving and failure to stop for an officer in connection with Merry’s death. He suffered a broken leg in the collision.

“Police chases are terrible — the craziest things,” Davis said, shaking his head. “And it’s laying everything on the officer.”

Tom Merry was the only one of Erla Merry’s sons to choose the state police as a career.

“It was just something he wanted to do. He was proud of it and felt he was making a difference,” she said. “I feel so pleased the people of Palmyra chose to do this and felt they liked him so much.”

Fund raising for the memorial is continuing, she said, with donations being accepted by Stedman. Another fund-raiser is planned on July 11. The Smithfield roller rink will host a session of skating with all proceeds dedicated to the Merry Memorial fund. The roller rink was one of Tom Merry’s favorite hangouts growing up, his mother said. Any proceeds beyond the cost of the memorial will be dedicated to scholarships, she said.

Speakers for Friday’s ceremony include Attorney General Andrew Ketterer; Col. Malcolm Dow, chief of the Maine State Police; and Stedman. The ceremonies begin at 1 p.m. and will be followed by refreshments at the Palmyra Consolidated School. The State Police Pipe and Drum Corps also will participate, according to McCausland.