WAYNE COUNTY, N.C. – A North Carolina State Highway Patrol officer died in a one-car collision Friday, according to a news release from the N.C. Department of Public Safety.

Trooper Nolan J. Sanders was a five-year veteran of the State Highway Patrol and was on duty in his assigned station of Troop C, District 2 in Wayne County.

The DPS said Sanders was traveling north on I-795 at 7:17 p.m. Friday when his vehicle ran off the road and struck a concrete culvert off the right shoulder of the road at mile marker 19.5. Sanders was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Our SHP family is devastated by the loss of Trooper Nolan Sanders this evening,” said Commander of the State Highway Patrol, Col. Glenn M. McNeill Jr. in a statement.  “Trooper Sanders personified what it meant to be a Trooper, his passing will leave a lasting mark on all that had the honor to work together with him. The coming days and weeks will prove to be difficult, but we will stand with the Sanders family throughout this difficult process.”

According to the DPS, the investigation is being handled by the SHP Collision Reconstruction Unit.