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BARNARD, Vt. -- Former FBI director Louis Freeh was seriously injured in a single-car crash in Vermont, authorities said. State police said Freeh was taken by helicopter to a New Hampshire hospital following the crash Monday in Barnard, a small town about 120 miles northwest of Boston. The hospital says it can't acknowledge that Freeh is a patient there. Freeh apparently drove his SUV off the road shortly after noon and struck a mailbox and a row of shrubs before coming to a stop on the side of a tree, state police said. He was wearing his seatbelt. Police said Tuesday a preliminary investigation indicated that drugs and alcohol were not factors in the crash. The investigation is continuing. No one else was hurt. "The thoughts and prayers of the entire FBI remain with former Director Freeh and his family tonight," FBI Director James Comey said in a statement Monday. Freeh, 64, was a federal judge in New York before serving as FBI director from 1993 to 2001. He previously served six years as a special agent. He founded his consulting firm, Freeh Group International Solutions LLC, in 2007. In 2011, Penn State hired Freeh to examine the handling of child sex abuse complaints involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and to recommend changes aimed at preventing abuse. Following an eight-month, $6.5 million investigation, Freeh issued a blistering report contending that legendary head football coach Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials concealed what they knew about Sandusky's sexual abuse of children for more than a decade ago to avoid bad publicity. Sandusky was convicted in June 2012 on 45 criminal counts. Freeh also has handled other high profile matters, including a bribery case involving the presidential election within FIFA, soccer's international governing body, and a review of the financial settlement program for Gulf Coast residents affected by the BP oil spill. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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