WAUKEGAN , Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago sheriff’s deputy suffered serious injuries when the driver of a pickup truck opening a beer ran a stop sign and crashed into her squad car, a sheriff said Monday.
The Lake County deputy was responding to a battery with the emergency lights and siren on her squad car activated when the pickup driver didn’t stop for a stop sign in Waukegan and drove into the path of her vehicle around 6:10 p.m. Sunday, the sheriff’s office said.
The 59-year-old pickup driver from North Chicago told investigators the last thing he remembered before the crash was opening a beer.
“One of our sheriff’s deputies was seriously injured in a crash because a thoughtless individual felt it was more important to drink a beer while driving, putting everyone on the roadway at risk, instead of driving safe,” Sheriff John Idleburg said.
The deputy was transported to a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, the sheriff’s office said. She remained hospitalized Monday.
The driver of the pickup truck also was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the office said.
The names of the deputy and the pickup driver weren’t released.
A second deputy also was responding to the battery but swerved to avoid the pickup, the office said.