1 dead in New Hampshire crash with Secret Service agents

reporting from WAKEFIELD, N.H. —  A car carrying four on-duty Secret Service agents was involved in a head-on collision in New Hampshire that killed the driver of the other car, police said Wednesday.

The accident happened at about 7 p.m. Tuesday in Wakefield, near the Maine state line.

The agents were in a Ford Taurus heading south on Route 16, Wakefield police said early Wednesday. A northbound Mercury Sable with three people inside crossed over a double yellow solid line and hit the Taurus head-on.

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The Sable driver, 45-year-old Bruce Danforth, died. A Secret Service spokeswoman said the agents sustained serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. Their names have not been released.

The passengers in Danforth’s car, Kristina Buswell, 21, and Natasha Meroski, 35, were taken to separate hospitals. Messages left seeking their conditions were not immediately returned.

Wakefield and state police are investigating the crash. Authorities have not mentioned any factors that may have contributed to the accident, but New Hampshire had its first major snowstorm of the season Tuesday and roads were covered with a mixture of snow, sleet and ice.

It wasn’t immediately known in what capacity the agents were working, but Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was at a town hall meeting Tuesday night in Berlin, north of Wakefield. New Hampshire has the first-in-the-nation presidential primary on Feb. 9, and some candidates have been traveling with Secret Service agents.

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