INA – A two-vehicle crash injured an Illinois State Police (ISP) trooper Tuesday morning on southbound I-57 in Jefferson County.
According to ISP, the trooper was injured after a silver 2006 Toyota Tundra crashed into the trooper’s car while he was in the left lane assisting traffic while helping a motorist who slid off the median due to weather conditions.
Around 8:30, the trooper responded to help the motorist near milepost 87 on southbound I-57. Once on scene, the trooper pulled behind the stuck vehicle, stopping at the edge of the left lane and activating emergency lights in order to assist with directing traffic to the right.
Then around 9:10 a.m., while the trooper was in his squad car, the Tundra crashed into the rear of the trooper’s squad car, injured the trooper. He was transported by ambulance to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Neither the driver of the Toyota, 54-year-old Chuong V. Nguyen, Milledgeville, GA or his passenger, 49-year-old Kim N. Tran, of Milledgeville, GA were injured. The vehicle from the initial motorist assist was not involved.
All lanes of southbound I-57 were closed for 10 minutes initially and the passing lane remained closed for another 50 minutes for traffic crash investigation and scene clean-up.
Nguyen was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash and failure to yield to stationary emergency vehicle (the Move-Over Law).
The trooper’s name was not released.