An Illinois State Police trooper was killed while on duty in a vehicle crash in the southern part of the state Friday afternoon.
Trooper Corey Thompsen, 28, was fatally injured riding a motorcycle at the intersection of County Road 1300 East and East Leverett Road in Somer Township, Champaign County, State Police Director Brendan Kelly said in a statement Saturday press release.
Thompsen, who was completing a traffic control detail, was heading east on Leverett Road, approaching 1300 East jjust before 3:45 p.m., as another motorist, Helen Torres, 32, of Thomasboro, was traveling south in a truck approaching the same intersection.
Torres stopped at the intersection but struck Thompsen’s motorcycle as she entered the road, according to Kelly. A witness provided assistance until emergency services arrived. Thompsen was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:32 p.m., Kelly said. Torres was also transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Torres was cited for failure to yield the right of way at an intersection and for having an expired driver’s license, Kelly said.
Thompsen worked as an officer in the state police for nearly five years and was assigned to the special operations group Fatal Four, Kelly said. He is survived by his wife Chelsea, his mother Susan, his father Steve and his brothers.
“It’s a sad moment. We are suffering. Corey’s brothers and sisters in the Motor Patrol, Special Operations Group, Troop 7, Patrol, Zone, Vermilion Metropolitan Police Group and the entire ISP are hurting,” Kelly said in a statement . “Corey’s family is suffering greatly today.”
“This is the first, and I hope the last, soldier to whom I have personally administered the oath of an officer of the FAI and whom I have lost in the exercise of my duties. The first and I hope the last soldier I saw at the start and end of their shift,” he added.
rjohnson@chicagotribune.com
