On-duty ISP trooper crashes into tractor-trailer when driving through red light

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — A patrol car was totaled, but no one was injured, when an on-duty Idaho State Police trooper slammed into a tractor-trailer at an intersection in Boise on Wednesday afternoon, according to an ISP spokesman.

The Boise Police Department is investigating the crash, which occurred at about 4:25 p.m. at the Gowen Road interchange with Interstate 84. The trooper was cited for failing to safely proceed through an intersection while driving an emergency vehicle, a Boise police spokesman told the Statesman on Friday. That’s a traffic infraction, and the fee is $90.

The trooper was running his lights and sirens to provide backup to another trooper, who had determined that the Idaho Transportation Department was providing roadside assistance to someone with an outstanding warrant at Gowen and Eisenmann roads, ISP spokesman Tim Marsano told the Statesman via email late Thursday afternoon.

Marsano said the trooper was traveling west on Interstate 84 and had exited at the Gowen interchange. When he got to the bottom of the ramp, he turned left at a red light, which was when he struck a tractor-trailer that was traveling east on Gowen Road. He hit the front-right quadrant of the trailer.

Marsano said he didn’t know the trooper’s exact speed at the time of the collision, but said the officer had “slowed from highway speeds.” He declined to release the trooper’s name, age or years with the department, but did say the trooper is experienced and has not been in any other on-duty crashes. The trooper remains on duty, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Weather conditions at the time were dry and cloudy. Marsano said that is not believed to have been a factor in the crash.

This article was originally published by the Idaho Statesman. It is used here with permission.