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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Highway Patrol Trooper David Schiers doesn't usually respond to vehicle crashes, but he was helping out Monday when he was hit and pinned beneath a vehicle on the side of I-15 near Cedar City.
Though Schiers, 55, was originally reported to have suffered some broken bones, his condition is actually more dire.
"It's very serious," said UHP Col. Danny Fuhr. "He's in very, very, very serious condition. We want everyone to please keep him in their thoughts and prayers."
Fuhr said his colleague is bedridden at Intermountain Medical Center with a chest tube inserted due to a punctured lung. He can't speak and communicates by squeezing his hand. Schiers also has a broken back, broken right leg, several broken ribs, his hand in a sling, and has recently developed a fever, which Fuhr said might be indicative of infection.
"He's really battling right now," Fuhr said. "He's not out of the woods just yet."
Schiers was responding to a car that had hydroplaned into the median guardrail during a rainstorm Monday about 3 p.m. While investigating the accident, another vehicle came sliding toward him and hit the vehicle that was parked on the inside of the two-lane highway, pinning Schiers under the front tire of the initial car.
Fuhr said "panic in the air" is apparent in the recorded 911 call.
"Traffic is still flying by this trooper as he's out there doing his duties, and a car goes out of control," he said. "Had he been on the traffic side of that crash, we would be responding to a funeral right now rather than an individual at the hospital.
Our plea to the public is always the same: We need you to slow down and move over. We need you to have regard for the individuals working on the side of the road to keep us safe. The work these troopers do is heroic every day, and they're risking their lives every day to keep people safe.
–UHP Col. Danny Fuhr
"It breaks our hearts. Our troopers are like family, and to have this happen in an entirely preventable crash," Fuhr said, adding that an average of 21 troopers are hit while responding to issues along Utah freeways each year.
"Our plea to the public is always the same: We need you to slow down and move over," Fuhr said, referring to a state law that requires giving law enforcement extra room when passing them on any road. "We need you to have regard for the individuals working on the side of the road to keep us safe. The work these troopers do is heroic every day, and they're risking their lives every day to keep people safe."
He said it is unknown whether Schiers, a member of the commercial vehicle section that is typically responsible for inspecting semitrailers along Utah's highways, will recover to the point that he can serve in the same capacity again.
Even though the speed limit is 80 mph in some places, Fuhr said, "in inclement weather, you shouldn't be traveling those speeds. You should be going much less than the posted speeds to keep yourself safe."
Emergency vehicles parked on the side of the road, he said, are a "sure indicator there is trouble ahead."
Schiers has been a full-time trooper, serving in Parowan and Cedar City since 2002. Prior to that, he was a special functions officer responsible for safety inspections in the region. His wife, Judy, and at least three of his five adult children were at his bedside Wednesday.
"His family is frustrated, and I don't blame them," Fuhr said, adding that the entire statewide force has been jolted by Monday's freak accident, but he underscored the importance of complying with the law.
"We have to have the public's support in this," Fuhr said. "We have no choice. We have to respond to help people in need, and when we do that, we hope and pray that the public will give us the room we need and actually have some respect for what we're doing and give us the dignity to slow down a few miles an hour, which might delay them a little bit, but will be worth it in the long run."
Contributing: Alex Cabrero
