CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Another Illinois State Trooper was killed in a crash Saturday morning in north suburban Green Oaks.
Trooper Gerald Ellis, 36, was on duty in his police SUV about 3:25 a.m. on Interstate 94 when a vehicle traveling east in the westbound lanes struck him head on, Illinois State Police said in a statement. He was headed home for the night, state police said.
Ellis — an 11-year veteran of District 15 in Downers Grove, which patrols Illinois tollways — was taken to Condell Medical Center in Libertyville and pronounced dead at 4:04 a.m.
The accident is the third trooper death this year, and comes just two days after Trooper Brooke Jones-Story, 34, was struck and killed by a semitrailer Thursday near Rockford.
“While the men and women of the Illinois State Police are still grieving our recent loss, it is with profound heartache and unfathomable sadness that we inform you of the death of another fallen trooper, Trooper Gerald Ellis,” state police Acting Director Brendan Kelly said in a statement. “Trooper Ellis laid down his life while protecting the citizens of this state.”
Ellis leaves behind a wife and two children, as well as his parents and his brother.
“I ask everyone to consider the fragility of life every time they get behind the wheel of a vehicle,” Kelly said. “This loss is bitter salt in an open wound. Not since 1997 has the Illinois State Police lost two troopers in as many days. It has been 66 years since we have lost three troopers in a single year, and it’s only March.”
Kelly met with Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday to discuss the spike in crashes involving troopers, urging the public to drive cautiously around emergency vehicles.
“This year is frankly unprecedented when looking at all statistics,” Kelly said then. “This is a new level of disregard that we’re seeing by some driving members of the public.”
On Jan. 12, Trooper Christopher Lambert was killed after being hit by a car on I-294 while stopped to help a three-car crash in north suburban Glenview. 61-year-old Scott Larsen of Wisconsin was charged with reckless homicide of an officer and two counts of reckless homicide involving Scott’s Law, which says that drivers must move over and slow down for emergency vehicles.