Motorist suspected of being intoxicated rams into state trooper’s car in East St. Louis

A motorist suspected of being intoxicated struck an Illinois State Police squad car that had its emergency lights activated and was parked on the shoulder of Interstate 55 in East St. Louis, the agency said Friday.

The driver was identified as 40-year-old Omar Castillo Loera of Alamo, Texas, the news release stated. Loera was charged with move over law – failure to yield to a stationary emergency vehicle, driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, and improper lane usage.

The trooper was not in the squad car when it was struck by a Chevrolet truck about 10:05 p.m. Thursday and was not injured in the crash at the 1.9 milepost on northbound I-55 near East Broadway. This trooper had stopped to assist with a crash around 9:34 p.m. Thursday.

“Due to the extensive damage, the squad car had to be towed from the scene,” the news release stated.

Eleven state troopers have been injured in 22 previous crashes involving move over law violations in Illinois this year, police said.

In 2023, the agency had 21 move over law-related crashes with seven troopers injured and there were 25 crashes in 2022 leaving 13 troopers injured.