Perry County deputy victim of car crash

A Perry County Sheriff's deputy is receiving medical attention after a southern Illinois car accident with a pick-up truck on U.S. Route 51 in DuQuoin.  The deputy had activated his emergency lights to pursue a traffic violator when the driver of a pick up truck made a left hand turn in front of him.  Illinois State Police have been called in to complete the investigation.

Drivers who are planning to make a left hand turn have an obligation to yield the right-of-way to oncoming traffic.  This means that they have to wait for traffic to clear before completing their turn.  Emergency vehicles such as police vehicles are entitled to theright of way when they have their emergency signals activated also.  There was absolutely no excuse for the driver of the pick up truck to turn left in front of a police squad car with its emergency lights activated.

The deputy injured in this accident is entitled to pursue an Illinois worker's compensation case, and because the pick up truck driver was primarily at fault for this accident, he can also pursue a third party automobile liability suit against the pick up truck driver.  To win his automobile liability suit, he will have to show that the pick up truck driver was at fault.  As an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer, I would recommend to him that he take steps to preserve the tapes of the communications he had with dispatch to help show that his emergency lights were activated at the time of the crash.