After Close Call With Truck On Icy Road, Trooper Urges Drivers To Slow Down

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A state trooper is counting his blessings after nearly getting hit by an out-of-control truck.

Dashcam video from a Chisago County Sheriff's Deputy taken Sunday night shows a truck losing control on I-35  and nearly hitting a state trooper.

The video shows the trooper running into the ditch to avoid the collision.

Both he and the driver were OK.

"It gets your blood pumping. Yes it does," said Lt. Robert Zak of the State Patrol. "You are dealing with what's happening in front of you at the scene. And then part of you is also listening, watching what's going on behind you to make sure you don't get hit or the people you are working with don't get run over either."

But even with your head on a swivel, Zak says drivers going too fast on icy roads are a constant threat.

While most of us try and avoid slippery freeways, state troopers have to be on them. It leads to countless close calls, and crashes every winter.

"I was on the side of a road assisting a motorist and a semi-truck had lost control and came by so close that the wind knocked my hat off. It was within a few inches," said Zak, recalling a close call.

Zak is hoping stories like that, backed up by video, help make his job a little safer.

"People need to slow down. It's not the ice that caused the crash or the spin out, it's people going too fast for the conditions that really caused it," said Zak.

There were 600 crashes across the state this past weekend.

And the State Patrol says sadly there were two fatalities on our roadways Monday.

They believe ice and speed played a factor in both of them.