A New Hampshire State Police trooper rescued a woman from a fiery crash on Tuesday on Route 101 in Epping.
State police said they responded to a report of a single-vehicle crash around 6 p.m. Tuesday on Route 101 east.
A witness told police that an SUV had left the paved portion of the highway and crashed into the tree line along the right side of the road, adjacent to the eastbound lanes of travel in the area of mile marker 118. The first trooper on scene found the vehicle, a 2017 Chevrolet Trax, engulfed in flames.
The driver was alert but unable to get out of the SUV, so the trooper broke through the front driver's window and removed them. No other vehicles were involved in the crash, and there were no passengers in the Trax.
The trooper was also treated for minor injuries at Exeter Hospital and released.
The driver, identified by police as 41-year-old Grace Patterson, of Bedford, was taken to Exeter Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. She was later charged with driving while intoxicated and marked lane violations and is scheduled to answer to the charges in Brentwood District Court on April 2 at 8 a.m.
A single eastbound travel lane on Route 101 was closed for about 45 minutes while emergency personnel worked the scene.
The crash remains under investigation, and anyone with information or who witnessed it is asked to contact Trooper Matthew Dushame at matthew.t.dushame@dos.nh.gov.
