Clark County, IL. (ECWd) –
This is an accident from last week, where an on-duty Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy, in his assigned squad, was traveling on a 2-lane highway west of Marshall, Illinois, outside of Martinsville.
He came across a van and side-swiped it. The van was parked on the side of the highway. The van did not have its emergency flashers on or any other warning device to warn approaching traffic of the vehicle parked on the edge of the roadway.
The Deputy was injured and taken to the hospital but has now been released to recuperate.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Department posted this comment on their Facebook page:
“This incident was investigated by the Illinois State Police. Now that their investigation is complete the Clark County Sheriff’s Office (IL) would like to clear up a few minor discrepancies in the public reporting. This release did not state that the vehicle was his “assigned” SUV and was a police squad vehicle, nor did it identify the driver as a Deputy Sheriff. These did not affect the investigation which ISP completed. We have tried to always allow other agencies to complete their investigations and release their own press releases. As with any other investigations from their agency all inquiries can be directed to the ISP. Our Deputy was admitted to the hospital and has since returned home recuperating. We thank the outpouring of public support we received and the family of our Deputy received.”
WTWO first reported the accident.
This first photo is a still-frame from the dashcam video showing the van partially on the roadway just prior to the impact (HERE).
These four photos are of the squad, and taken by us this afternoon:
7 Comments
Jerry springer
Posted at 12:55h, 06 MarchKeep your eyes on the damn road… stupid asshole now we have to pay for your new car. Dock his pay or something…
Biff Spiff
Posted at 11:21h, 03 MarchThis part seems pretty important: “The van did not have its emergency flashers on or any other warning device to warn approaching traffic of the vehicle parked on the edge of the roadway.”
PK
Posted at 21:35h, 03 MarchThat’s a really grim distinction.
Lt. Dangle
Posted at 08:58h, 02 MarchGlad the officer wasn’t severely injured. He/she is very fortunate and blessed. The vehicle that was parked appeared to to be parked on and slightly over the side marker line into the roadway lane. With that said, this accident appears to have been entirely avoidable. The dash cam shows that the deputy’s car was also over the side marker line and onto the shoulder by quite a bit, by an apparent amount that it would have struck the parked vehicle even if the parked vehicle was entirely on the shoulder. Now, the question is why? Was the deputy sleepy, distracted by phone, computer, etc., or sick? Was there some other influencing factor that the deputy’s vehicle was out of the roadway lane and onto the shoulder? I’ll let the Sheriff determine that. I have full faith and confidence in Sheriff Brown’s diligence in pursuing the facts. I’m of the impression that he runs a tight ship.
Rocko Peters
Posted at 19:39h, 01 MarchAgree with above comments. Also how fast was the squad car traveling to have rolled four times? To me it looks like deputy was speeding and not paying attention to the road. At 55 mph it would seem that a person paying attention would have enough time to react to even a dark vehicle on the side.
Gig414
Posted at 17:49h, 01 MarchGood news that the deputy didn’t suffer life threatening injuries. I agree with John Doe. Why was the deputy traveling so far across the line? The van is barely on the line. Hindsight here, but why couldn’t one veer to the left and try to avoid a collision. Pretty severe “side swipe” to tear up the police car like it did.
Another point, even if the van had enough battery to have the flashers on one would need to steer to the left to avoid a collision.
John Doe
Posted at 17:27h, 01 MarchOoof. Glad the Deputy wasn’t severely hurt. That being said, the van was slightly on the roadway, but that dashcam picture shows the deputy was straddling the line. That van could have been a foot off the white line and still would have hit it.