The Associated Press

MOROCCO, Ind. - A power line knocked down in a traffic accident Monday fatally shocked a Newton County sheriff's deputy who went to investigate the crash, police said.

Investigators did not immediately know how Deputy Craig Blann came into contact with the power line, the Sheriff's Department said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of a car told police she swerved to avoid a deer on the rural road about 50 miles northwest of Lafayette and struck a utility pole. The car rolled onto its top, but the 18-year-old driver was not injured.

The driver went home to report the crash, and Blann spoke with her there before going to the crash scene.

Blann, 27, had been a sheriff's deputy for four years after working as a county jailer and a deputy marshal for the town of Kentland.

He was married and had two children, ages 4 and 16 months.

He was the first Newton County officer killed in the line of duty, the Sheriff's Department said.