By Evan Lips
Lowell Sun
BILLERICA, Mass. — The corrections officer who drove a Middlesex Sheriff’s Department cruiser into a tree off Treble Cove Road on Wednesday morning may have accidentally shot himself in the head seconds before the crash, The Sun has learned.
Minutes earlier, Edward “Teddy” Dillon III had collected money from his co-workers and was planning to pick up coffee for them, sources told The Sun.
Dillon, 27, of Dracut was pronounced dead at the scene, a wooded area on the fringe of the Billerica State Forest, across the street from The Learning Experience preschool and day-care center at 210 Treble Cove Road.
He had worked at the Middlesex Sheriff’s office since 2008.
Dillon worked at the Middlesex House of Correction on Treble Cove Road, less than a mile from the crash site.
Kathleen Skarin, Sheriff Peter Koutoujian’s chief of staff, said Dillon was on duty at the time of the accident. Dillon was required to routinely check the perimeter of the jail from midnight to 8 a.m.
Koutoujian’s statement refers to Dillon’s death as an “incident,” never using the words “crash” or “accident.”
A spokesman for Middlesex County District Attorney Gerard Leone would only say that the crash was not suspicious and that no charges are being filed. The spokesman added that the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is still determining the cause and manner of Dillon’s death.
Jayne Biagiotti, who lives in a small yellow house at 214 Treble Cove Road, said she was awakened early Wednesday morning by the sound of a crash about 3:30.
Biagiotti said she immediately heard the sound of a police siren, but realized seconds later that the siren’s blare was coming from Dillon’s mangled cruiser. Biagiotti said her sister, Shelley, immediately called police.
First responders were there “instantaneously,” Jayne Biagiotti said.
Biagiotti, one of the residents living closest to the crash scene, said she couldn’t see any skid marks in the road.
By 10 a.m., a street-sweeper had finished brushing away any debris still remaining in the road.
Waltham resident Jill Asadoorian works at the day-care center across the street and said the busy stretch of Treble Cove Road between River and Bridge streets was still closed when she tried to arrive in time for her shift at 7 a.m.
Police also closed access to Treble Cove Road from Route 3’s northbound lanes. The exit did not reopen until after 7:30 a.m.
Asadoorian said she made it to the day-care center just as crews were loading Dillon’s cruiser onto a flatbed truck. She said it appeared Dillon had been heading away from the jail and toward Bridge Street.
Dillon, whose father works at the jail as the facility’s head electrician, is part of a family that has been actively involved in Greater Lowell’s fire and law-enforcement community. One of his father’s brothers, Gary Dillon, is a detective for the Lowell Police Department while another brother, Michael is a lieutenant and arson investigator for the Lowell Fire Department.
Reached at his Tewksbury home Wednesday morning, Keith Sullivan, union president of the Middlesex Correction Officers Association, said Dillon “was a good friend.”
“Right now, we’re doing the best we can to give the family all of our support, that’s all I can say,” Sullivan added.
On Facebook, several friends began posting tributes to Dillon hours after his death was announced. One circle of friends in Dillon’s law-enforcement community changed their profile photo to a graphic of the Middlesex Sheriff Office’s badge with a ceremonial blue band superimposed over it.
A spokesman for the Dillon family said relatives were not yet ready to comment.
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