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Watch: Utah trooper makes split-second decision to stop wrong-way driver

“I just see myself as a regular trooper,” said Sgt. Chad McCoy about the praise he has received for crashing into a wrong-way driver

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Fox 13 News Utah/Utah Highway Patrol/YouTube

By Bill Carey
Police1

SANDY, Utah — A Utah highway patrol trooper is being hailed as a hero after crashing head-on with a wrong-way driver to save other motorists.

Sgt. Chad McCoy had finished his shift Tuesday in Salt Lake County and had crossed into Tooele County on I-80 on his way home, KTSU reported.

“I’ve had him call me before on his way home and say ‘Hey I’m going to be late. I’m on a crash.’ So, in my head that’s what I heard,” said Trooper McCoy’s wife Nicole. “And then I was like, ‘Wait a minute, you just said you were in a crash.’ And I was like, ‘Did you have a tire blow?’ And he was like, ‘No, I was in a head-on,’” she said.

Trooper McCoy said he noticed cars moving to the right and then a truck facing the wrong direction, travelling at a high rate of speed. McCoy had only seconds to decide how to stop the driver.

“I just tried to get the best angle that I could to try and get them to stop,” he said. Dash cam video shows the collision. McCoy received praise for his actions but insists he was just doing his job.

“I just see myself as a regular trooper. I really think we all have that mindset,” he said. “We all come to work every day, just trying to keep people safe.”

McCoy added that he is grateful to come home to his wife and four children.

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