Niagara Region police said Const. Joe Mellen is dead after a crash between a motorcycle and a car in Welland on Friday morning.

Mellen was off duty, returning home after a 12-hour night shift, said Niagara Region Police Chief Jeff McGuire.

The collision occurred around 5 a.m. on a stretch of Highway 406 between East Main Street and Woodlawn Road, said Kerry Schmidt, a spokesman for the Ontario Provincial Police.

The motorcycle and the car, a Pontiac Sunfire, collided head-on, he said.

The motorcyclist, Mellen, was pronounced dead at the scene. Paramedics airlifted the female driver to the hospital with serious injuries. 

The Ontario Provincial Police reopened the 406 from East Main Street to Woodlawn Road after a police investigation into the crash.