A 21-year-old with “aspirations to pursue police work” died in a crash weeks after starting his new job as a detention officer, officials and loved ones said.

Tyler Johnson was driving Feb. 10 when a car going in the opposite direction traveled across the center line and struck his vehicle head-on, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol told WITN and WCTI.

The “devastating” crash left “colleagues, friends, and family in shock and mourning,” the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post.

Deputies said Johnson began his role Jan. 2 and quickly became a “valued member of the sheriff’s office.” Sheriff Chris Thomas told WCTI the late officer was a “conscientious” worker just starting his career.

“He’s a real polite young man, very respectful,” Thomas told the TV station, adding that the officer had a “good sense of humor.”

Johnson also is remembered in an online obituary as an “outdoor enthusiast” and a player for the Carolina Kings, which describes itself as a minor league football team.

“Tyler was recently sworn in as an Onslow County detention officer and had aspirations to pursue police work,” the Jones Funeral Home of Jacksonville post said. “Tyler is very loved and was a friend to all.”

Johnson’s life was cut short along a road in the Richlands area, roughly 100 miles southeast of Raleigh. Deputies in their Facebook post didn’t say whether he was on duty at the time of the crash.

The driver accused of hitting Johnson’s car declined to receive medical treatment and faces charges, news outlets reported.

McClatchy News asked the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office and the N.C. State Highway Patrol for additional information and is awaiting responses.

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