AC Officer Dies

A 28-year-old police officer died Friday morning from injuries suffered when he was struck by a tour bus while directing traffic, authorities said.

Officer Thomas McMeekin Jr., a five-year veteran of the Atlantic City Police Department, was diverting traffic from an accident scene about 5 p.m. Thursday when he was struck by an empty bus.

The impact threw McMeekin about 30 feet. It wasn't immediately known how fast the bus was traveling.

He died about 1:45 a.m. at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, according to Lt. Michael Tullio, a police spokesman.

"It's devastating," said Tullio. "Tommy was the kind of guy, you talk to him for five minutes and you liked automatically."

The investigation was continuing. No charges had been filed against the driver, Robert Maxwell, of Harrisburg, Pa.

McMeekin comes from a family of police officers. He has at least six relatives on the Atlantic City force, according to Tullio.

He is the second Atlantic City policeman to die on the job in the last year.

Sgt. Ken Brown, 52, died March 10, 2004, after helping quell a melee after a high school basketball game ended. He died of a heart attack was he was returning to police headquarters from the scene.

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Author: NBC10/AP