The Nebraska State Patrol renews calls for motorists to pay attention to the road after a second trooper’s parked patrol unit was hit on I-80 in a span of 10 days.
The second crash happened Sunday morning near Paxton in Keith County.
NSP says troopers and Keith County deputies had responded to a single vehicle crash on Interstate 80 near mile marker 140.
There were no injuries, but the involved vehicle was blocking both lanes of westbound traffic on I-80.
While crews worked to clean up the first crash, multiple troopers were performing traffic control to safely move vehicles through the area.
During that, a westbound Hyundai Santa Fe drove over several lighted traffic control devices, which were being used to close the passing lane, and nearly hit a trooper’s cruiser parked on the inside shoulder and median.
Approximately ¼ mile later, the vehicle struck a different trooper’s cruiser.
The cruiser was parked, blocking both lanes of traffic to protect the crew working on the first crash.
The trooper saw the vehicle coming and was able to run to safety.
The driver of the Hyundai was not injured. NSP asked the Keith County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the crash.
The driver has been cited for reckless driving, disobeying a traffic control vehicle, and failure to move over.
(Pictures from Nebraska State Patrol)