SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Highway Patrol trooper Alic Giles knew it was one of the risks of the job when he signed up.

"Unfortunately, it is the reality. Most troopers understand the risk when they take the job. It's not usually a matter of if they get hit but when," he said.

On Saturday, Giles, who has been a UHP trooper for just nine months, was sitting in his parked patrol car off to the side of the road when he was hit from behind by another vehicle.

Giles was one of two troopers whose vehicles were hit Saturday.

Just four hours after Giles was hit, troopers were clearing another accident on I-15 near 7400 South when trooper Gary Perea saw a vehicle coming right at him and other emergency responders.

"I told the tow-truck staff and everyone else that was around to get on the other side of the wall," Perea said. "(It) looked like he was approaching at a high rate of speed (and) didn't have any intentions of slowing down. Everybody jumped over the wall. He made no (effort) to get back into the main flow traffic from the emergency lane. (It) gave me about 200 yards preparation. But traveling between 70-80 mph, (he) didn't give me a lot of time. … I've had close calls; not anything this close."

Perea said he barely had time to jump over the cement barricade to safety, and then looked out of the corner of his eye to see another trooper's vehicle side-swiped by the pickup.

"By the grace of God, (the trooper) wasn't hit. As the truck went by, it clipped his (side) mirror and it just exploded," he said.

The trooper had just enough time to grab his steering wheel and brace for a possible impact. Fortunately, the trooper did not try to step out of his vehicle or he would have been hit, Perea said.

The pickup driver was stopped a short time later and taken to a local hospital for suspected drug use. Perea said the man was initially combative, and then when he was at the hospital was unable to coherently answer any of the troopers' questions.

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Ironically, Perea was one of the troopers who responded to Giles' crash and was already on edge from that incident.

"Thank goodness I looked back and was actually able to see (the pickup driver) coming," he said. "Normally, up there with crashes, we're pretty good about checking over our shoulders always. You're constantly being aware. You can't trust everybody and the decisions they're going to make."

No troopers were seriously injured. Giles resumed work that same day.

In his incident, Giles said three large wicker chairs were on I-15 near 3300 South. He had pulled off to the shoulder to call for backup to slow down traffic so he could get the chairs off the road.

But a driver who wasn't paying attention to the traffic that had slowed down in front of him slammed on his brakes and went onto the shoulder in an attempt to not hit any cars in front of him. Instead, he rear-ended Giles.

"I was able to see him coming and brace for the impact," he said. "I was able to hear him before I saw him."

For Giles, it was his first — and he hopes only — crash of his brief UHP career.

"It's just something you keep in the back of your mind. You try not to think about it too much. You understand it's a risk. You take the risk, and you also take the rewards. We're out there doing what we can to help and save the public. Sometimes the risk is worth it," he said.

The highway patrol says Saturday's incidents are yet more reminders of why motorists need to watch both their speed and their following distance while on the freeway, and always wear seat belts.

Contributing: Sandra Yi

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