NEPHI, Utah, Dec. 7, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Two Utah Highway Patrol Troopers’ patrol vehicles were struck while parked on the roadside for minor crashes within an hour and a few miles of each other on I-15 Wednesday evening.
One trooper suffered minor injuries and was treated and released from the hospital after the accident that led to his vehicle being towed, Sgt. Cameron Roden, UHP spokesman said.
He was in his cruiser when it was side-swiped by a sliding semi-truck, he said.
In the other incident between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m., between mile markers 222 and 228, the trooper was not in his vehicle when it was rear-ended by another motorist who had lost control on the slick freeway.
The trooper’s canine was in the cruiser, Roden said, but was unhurt.
Just last month, Roden released UHP statistics noting that, in Utah last year, 23 troopers or their vehicles were hit by the side of the road by errant motorists as the officers attended a crash scene or other incident.
So far, as of Nov. 18 this year, the figure is 12 troopers. Luckily, no fatalities have been reported in either year.
Nationally, the figures released for Crash Responders Safety Week said in the past three years 155 interstate crash responders — officers, EMTs, tow-truck drivers, etc. — were killed by motorists plowing into an emergency scene.
The number is 41 nationally so far this year, according to the UHP.
