I-80 Bridge Crash With 3 Semis: 1 Patient Flown To Good Samaritan

JOLIET, IL — A medical helicopter landed on the Des Plaines River Bridge over Interstate 80 in Joliet to help Joliet Fire Department crews handle an emergency that involved three semi-trucks. One victim was trapped inside his cab for 42 minutes, the Joliet Fire Department announced.

Joliet Fire Battalion Chief Victor Stachelski said crews from Stations 1, 5 and 6 responded to I-80 eastbound at Center Street at 2:45 p.m. for Thursday's wreck that caused the shutdown of I-80 in Joliet.

One truck driver was trapped in the cab, and Joliet Fire Department's first units arrived within four minutes to find a semi-truck with heavy damage to the driver’s side of the cab.

A bystander who witnessed the collision was with the entrapped driver, helping to hold the driver in a better position to ease his pain. All eastbound traffic was closed.

A life support helicopter was dispatched for transport to a level one trauma center. Fire crews worked for 42 minutes to extricate the driver from the semi cab.

Paramedics from Joliet Fire Department and the helicopter crew worked to stabilize the patient. The patient was then flown to Good Samaritan Hospital in critical condition.

Two other semi-trucks were in the wreck, and neither driver required medical treatment.

At 3:56 p.m. the scene was turned over to the Illinois State Police and all Joliet fire units cleared the scene.