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Driver opening beer can crashes into, injures Ill. deputy responding to call

Two deputies were en route to a battery in progress call with lights and siren activated when the collision occurred

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Photo/Lake County Sheriff’s Office Facebook

By Sarah Calams
Police1

CHICAGO — A deputy was seriously injured over the weekend after her cruiser was struck by a driver who ran a stop sign because he was opening a can of beer.

The Lake County Sheriff’s deputy was responding to a battery in progress when the incident occurred, NBC Chicago reported. Two deputies were en route to the call with their lights and siren activated when a driver in a pickup truck failed to stop at a stop sign. Instead, the man drove directly in the path of the deputies. One deputy swerved to avoid hitting the truck, but the second deputy was unable to avoid the collision – striking the truck’s front driver’s side.

The deputy suffered non-life-threatening injuries, but remains hospitalized, according to the report. The driver of the truck, who was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, told police the last thing he remembered before the crash was opening a can of beer.

“One of our sheriff’s deputies was seriously injured in a crash because a thoughtless individual felt it was more important to drink a beer while driving, putting everyone on the roadway at risk, instead of driving safe,” Sheriff John D. Idleburg said on Facebook. “We say it time and time again: Don’t drink and drive.”

https://www.facebook.com/LakeCoILSheriff/posts/582072390631328