By Kim Bell
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
PONTOON BEACH, Ill. — The Pontoon Beach police officer injured in a fiery head-on crash Thursday has been moved out of the intensive care unit as he continues to make improvement.
“This guy’s a warrior,” Mayor Michael Pagano said of the injured officer, Lee Brousseau.
Brousseau suffered a broken femur, a compound fracture to his ankle and broken facial bones when an oncoming pickup swerved into Brousseau’s lane on Route 111, Pagano said.
Brousseau, a former mixed-martial arts fighter, has many surgeries ahead but the mayor said he and others are hoping Brousseau can return to law enforcement.
“We back him a thousand percent,” Pagano said. “He’ll always be with our department as long as he wants. It all depends on that ankle.”
The pickup driver, Daniel Bell, 33, of South Roxana, died at the scene. Investigators say they don’t know why the pickup went into the oncoming lane. Brousseau was seriously injured in the crash, between Interstate 270 and New Poag Road near Edwardsville.
Police Chief Chris Modrusic said Brousseau was out of ICU on Sunday.
“It felt more promising,” the chief said. “He’s very strong.”
Pagano has been providing updates on social media about the officer’s condition. He posted a photo of Brousseau in his MMA fighting days with the message “One more fight bud.” The officer’s breathing tube was removed over the weekend and he is breathing on his own, the mayor said, adding, “He was slowly coming out of sedation and was wondering what happened.”
Brousseau, 43, is married and has two children.
Pagano said Brousseau had signed in to work at 6 a.m. Thursday for his normal shift. He got his briefing, then headed to the courthouse to deliver some paperwork. It was, the mayor said, a “normal day at work.”
He was driving an unmarked police car, a black Dodge Charger. The police lights flashing after the crash must have been accidentally activated in the crash, the mayor said, because Brousseau was not on his way to an emergency call at the time.
A witness told police the pickup driver swerved into oncoming traffic, colliding head-on with the officer’s car, for unknown reasons. Illinois State Police Trooper Calvin Dye Jr. said investigators think the pickup driver was unaware the car he collided with was a police car.
Several fundraisers are being planned to raise money for the officer and his family. The village police force is trying to compile a list of the sanctioned fundraisers. The mayor suggests people check his Facebook page for updates.
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