YOUNGSTOWN — A Celebration of Life service will take place Wednesday for Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Nicholas P. Cayton, who died in the line of duty last week.

The service will start at 1 p.m. at Youngstown State University’s Beeghly Center, 224 W. Spring St. Doors will open for seating at noon. The service is open to the public.

Those attending the service are asked to pay attention to areas that have been designated for parking and specific seating areas.

The family had requested that in lieu of flowers donations be made in memory of Trooper Nicholas Cayton by clicking on www.ohiotroopers.org.

Cayton, 40, was assisting a disabled tractor-trailer along state Route 11 in Canfield on Thursday when a truck struck his cruiser from behind and forced it into the semitrailer. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Arbaugh-Pearce-Greenisen Funeral Home, located in Salem, is handling arrangements.

Gov. Mike DeWine has ordered U.S. and Ohio flags to be flown at half-staff at all public buildings and grounds throughout Mahoning County, the Ohio Statehouse, the Vern Riffe Center and the Rhodes State Office Tower now through sunset on the day of the trooper’s funeral. All other public buildings and grounds throughout the state may fly the flags at half-staff at their discretion for the same time period.

Over the weekend, White House Fruit Farm’s fall festival included a benefit in Cayton’s memory with all tips going directly to Cayton’s family.

Cayton responded to state Route 11 northbound in Canfield on Thursday afternoon after a report of a disabled 2024 Kenworth semitractor-trailer in the right lane. Upon making contact with the driver, Nelson De Jesus Herrera Vasquez, 65, of Florida, Cayton determined that the Kenworth had struck an item in the road.

According to the OSHP, Cayton was sitting in his cruiser with its emergency overhead lights activated when a 2007 Mack Granite, driven by Ryan Rach, 35, of Canfield, traveling north, crashed into the back of his cruiser.

The cruiser traveled forward into the back of Vasquez’s disabled tractor-trailer, also striking Vasquez, who was standing outside of his vehicle.

Cayton was pronounced dead at the scene, while Vasquez was flown to a nearby hospital for treatment.

A procession of OSHP and law enforcement vehicles delivered Cayton’s body Thursday night from Canfield to the Cuyahoga Medical Examiner’s Office in Cleveland.

On Friday, first responders from across the Mahoning Valley accompanied one of their own in a procession of 25 vehicles that escorted Cayton from the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office to Arbaugh-Pearce-Greenisen Funeral Home in Salem. Cayton was transported by the Cardinal Joint Fire District’s ambulance and accompanied by his family in adjacent vehicles.

The crash remains under investigation.