An Illinois Tollway employee was killed and an Illinois State Trooper was seriously hurt in a crash on the Reagan Memorial Tollway in Aurora on Monday night. The tollway employee was identified as Vincent Petrella, a 39-year-old father of two who was an operator laborer for the tollway since 2005.
An Illinois State Trooper was also seriously injured while assisting Petrella with a disabled semitrailer truck around 9:45 pm near Eola Road. All vehicles involved were hit by another semi truck and became engulfed in flames, according to police. Petrella was pronounced dead at the scene and the trooper was hospitalized in serious condition in Maywood.
Charges have bee filed against the semi-truck driver whose vehicle struck and killed the worker and hurt the trooper. According to prosecutors, Renato Valasquez of Hanover Park had been at the wheel for too long and was overly tired, in violation of federal law.
State police also say Velasquez is charged with falsifying his log book to make it seem he was behind the wheel of the truck legally. Truckers are limited to only 11 consecutive hours behind the wheel or 11 hours in a 14-hour period according to federal law.
Velasquez faces a long list of charges that include failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and failure to yield to a stationary emergency vehicle. According to State Police Director Hiram Grau, the accident most likely would have been avoided if the truck driver was following the law and pulled to the left lane when he saw the flashing lights on the trooper’s vehicle.
This is the second time in the last year that an Illinois state trooper’s vehicle has been hit by a semi while stopped at a tollway. In March of last year, Trooper James Sauter was killed when a truck hit his car while he was on the shoulder of I-294 near Willow Road. The trucker was charged with felony violations of truck driver violations after he fell asleep at the wheel.
