Trooper Who Suffered Brain Injury In Joliet Crash Finally Going Home 2 Years Later

JOLIET, IL — More than two years since he suffered a traumatic brain injury after being struck from behind while responding to a crash, Trooper Brian Frank is going home.

Frank underwent several brain surgeries after he was hit Feb. 15, 2021, while in his squad car by a driver who failed to avoid his police vehicle, which was on Interstate 55 near Route 30 behind the scene of a crash with emergency lights activated, state authorities said at the time.

“Brian's discharge is bittersweet,” his wife, Lauren Frank, said Saturday in a prepared statement.

“Two and a half years ago, I imagined this day much differently. I fully expected him to wake up after his natural coma, go to rehab, and return to the home we established together in a matter of weeks. I never could have imagined that he would remain minimally conscious after 26 months living in a rehab hospital.”

Following nearly two years at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital and several setbacks, Brian Frank is moving into a newly constructed home that is accessible to his needs. GoFundMe donations to assist the Frank family have totaled over $130,000.

“Our family and friends hold high hopes that going home will be the answer, and the place that he wakes up,” Lauren Frank said in the statement.

The crash that injured Brian Frank is a Scott’s Law collision — a traffic incident that violates the state’s “move over” law, which requires drivers to slow and pass parked emergency vehicles with activated lights or any vehicles with hazard signals, Patch has reported.

Lauren Frank has become an advocate for Scott’s Law and spoke about her husband’s recovery when state leaders passed and signed a bill in 2021 strengthening penalties for violators, who now face $250 to over $10,000 in fines for a first offense, according to state police. If the violation results in injury to another person, the driver will have their license suspended for six months to two years, state police said.

So far in 2023, there have been 10 Scott’s Law crashes, five of which injured troopers, according to state police. Last year, there were 23 such collisions, with eight troopers suffering injuries, state police said.

The driver whose Cadillac struck Brian Frank’s squad car, then-20-year-old Angel M. Casillas, of Joliet, was charged about a year ago with aggravated reckless driving and driving on approach of emergency vehicles, authorities said at the time.