By Nick Gale, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) Illinois State Police say they conducted over 1,400 inspections of big rigs in an operation carried out in honor of a trooper killed when his squad was struck by a big rig.
State police say the special enforcement operation was dedicated to fallen Trooper James Sauter, who was killed March 28, 2013 when his squad was struck by a truck tractor semi-trailer at I-294 southbound at Willow Road in north suburban Glenview.
ISP Troopers throughout the state aggressively patrolled Illinois roadways for 24 consecutive hours from March 28 – March 29. It was the forth such year of the safety operation.
During ‘Operation Sauter,’ ISP Troopers conducted 1,437 Commercial Motor Vehicle Inspections, placing 138 dangerous Commercial Motor Vehicles out of service, and issued 624 Written Warnings and 123 Citations.
Within the last four years, two ISP Troopers were struck and killed by commercial motor vehicles and another was seriously injured. On September 8, 2015 the Willow Road Overpass was dedicated in Trooper Sauter’s memory as the “Trooper James Sauter Memorial Overpass.”
@ 2017 WLS-AM News
