FAMILY AND BABYSITTER RETURNING HOME FROM TRIP TO WASHINGTON DC SAVED BY ILLINOIS STATE TROOPER GERALD ELLIS
The mother of a daughter, who witnessed the fatal crash involving Illinois State Trooper Gerald Ellis early Saturday morning March 30, 2019, wrote in a comment on the official Illinois State Police Facebook page Saturday afternoon that her daughter was in a car that was behind the state trooper’s vehicle traveling in the same direction — but two lanes to the right — when she saw the Illinois State Police trooper’s vehicle move over two lanes as the wrong-way driver approached. The state trooper intentionally collided with the oncoming vehicle to protect the only vehicle that was following him in the lanes of westbound I-94, which are actually northbound lanes in this stretch of the interstate.
Trooper Gerald “Jerry” Ellis, a military veteran, was heading northbound to his home in Antioch after work in his Illinois State Police SUV when the head-on crash with a southbound wrong-way driver occurred about 3:24 a.m. near milepost 16.75 near Green Oaks and Libertyville.
Illinois State Trooper Gerald”Jerry” Ellis was killed in the crash. The wrong-way driver and the one passenger in the wrong-way vehicle — a dark SUV — were also killed in the crash.
Mother’s Comment on ISP Facebook
Carrie Kay Trooper Gerald Ellis you are my HERO. This officer paid the ultimate sacrifice early this morning and saved my daughter’s life. She was traveling home from Washington D.C. with a family she babysits for. From what we were told Trooper Ellis was directly ahead of them two lanes over and moved his squard car into their lane to block a wrong way driver on interstate I94 in Illinois from hitting the car she was in. They were the sole vehicle on the interstate at the time of the crash and were witnesses to the whole thing. There was nothing they could do to help Trooper Ellis or the other driver. My heart breaks for this officer and his family both blood and blue. As a LEO wife I can’t image what they are going through. I can’t stop crying and thinking of my prayer last night before bed, that God would wrap his arms around the car she was in and bring her home safe. Little did I know that a few hours later I would find out about this accident. That early morning phone call was a nightmare and a blessing. Thank you God and Officer Ellis for letting her and the others in that car come back home to us. We are so ever grateful to you. Your bravery and sacrifice will never be forgotten.
The Illinois State Police are investigating the crash. As of early Sunday the identities of the two people in the dark SUV, wrong-way vehicle had not been released.
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