A true public servant, retired Mississippi State Trooper Michael Griffin died helping others, according to state officials.

“All day and every day ... a Marine, a State Trooper, a servant of God, and just an all-around good dude,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said of Griffin in a statement.

“He loved his country, and he loved Mississippi.”

A community is mourning after Griffin, 62, was killed Monday, Sept. 4, while helping at the scene of a crash, according to the state’s public safety department.

It happened at about 11 a.m. on Highway 6 in Panola County, authorities said in a news release.

Griffin, a sworn Mississippi Department of Safety officer, was headed to Jackson when he spotted two vehicles involved in a crash, according to the release. Investigators said a Ford F-150 was traveling west when it hit a Lincoln LS that was going the same direction.

Griffin stopped to check on the driver of the Lincoln when the sedan rolled and crushed him. He died at the scene.

“I’m devastated by the news of the tragic accident that took his life this morning,” Reeves said of Griffin in a statement. “But I’m not in the least bit surprised he was on the side of the road trying to help someone in need because that was just the kind of person he was.”

Griffin retired from the Mississippi Highway Patrol in 2021 and continued working with the state’s Department of Public Safety as a liaison with law enforcement and government agencies in Mississippi, officials said in the release.

He’s survived by his wife and daughter.

It’s not clear if the two drivers involved in the accident were injured.

Authorities said the crash remains under investigation.

Panola County is about 50 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee.

12-year-old dies after collapsing in PE class, California family says. ‘Devastating’

Flying debris from malfunctioning engine kills woman during tractor pull, PA cops say

Hidden sinkhole opens as car passes, trapping 2 in rising water, Florida cops say