Illinois State Trooper involved in crash on I-24 in Johnson County

An Illinois State Police trooper was involved in a crash on Thursday while providing traffic control for an incident in Johnson County near Grantsburg. 

The crash happened just before 4 p.m. Thursday near the 21-mile marker along I-24. The trooper, from ISP Troop 10, was assisting after a tractor-trailer caught fire. While parked with his emergency lights on, a secondary crash involving three vehicles happened when drivers failed to slow down for the incident. In the aftermath, another semi had to swerve to avoid the crash that had just occurred and sideswiped the trooper's cruiser.  

Fortunately, the trooper was inside the cruiser at the time and was not hurt. 

The driver of the semi, 36-year-old Andrii Riabchun of Chicago was cited under Illinois' Move Over Law, which requires drivers to yield to emergency vehicles that are stationary.

That was the second Move Over Law-related crash involving Illinois State Police on Thursday. The other occurred near Chicago.  

ISP said that there have been 19 crashes and nine troopers injured in Move Over Law-related crashes in 2024, while there were 21 such crashes in all of 2023. Fines for violators range from $250 to $10,000 and could also result in a suspended license.