PLAINFIELD — An Indiana State Trooper narrowly escaped serious injury Sunday afternoon after his patrol car was struck by two separate semi-trucks while he was acting as a human shield for a stranded family during the peak of Winter Storm Fern.
The incident occurred on Interstate 70 near Plainfield. According to ISP Sergeant John Perrine, the trooper had positioned his cruiser behind a vehicle that had become stuck in the deep snow and was sitting perpendicular to traffic.
As the trooper was assisting the family, a semi tractor-trailer traveling at a high rate of speed for the snowy conditions sideswiped the patrol car. Only seconds later, a second semi—also traveling too fast—slammed squarely into the rear of the cruiser.
“If he wasn’t there, the semis would have hit the family,” Sgt. Perrine wrote in a Facebook post accompanying photos of the mangled police vehicle.
Miraculously, no injuries were reported for the trooper or the family he was protecting. Sgt. Perrine noted that while the patrol car sustained heavy damage, it successfully performed its role as a barrier.
