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PARLEYS CANYON — Utah Highway Patrol trooper Riley Rugg, 22, was responding to a car accident Sunday when a truck rolled over the top of his patrol cruiser on westbound I-80 near Lambs Canyon. Amazingly, he walked away unharmed and was already back on the job the next day.
“It's a miracle that we weren't hurt,” he said.
Rugg was parked on the left shoulder and wasn’t in the vehicle when the truck rolled over his car, but a man involved in the original traffic incident Rugg was investigating was in the car, officials said. That man was cut out of the cruiser, and only suffered injuries that were not considered to be life-threatening, according to UHP officials.
Mere seconds before the truck rolled, Rugg said he and a tow truck driver were standing in the spot where the truck hit.
Dashcam footage of the crash released by officials Monday shows the tense situation.
"Honestly when it happened I couldn't believe that it was, it was happening,” Rugg said. “Everything slowed down a little bit.”
Rugg, who joined the force only 9 months ago, credits his time in the Marine Corps for helping him stay calm during the ordeal.
“I was in Marine Corps and while in the Marine Corps they taught us a lot about mindset, and when the crash occurred I had a lot of adrenaline going, but I tried to stay calm and breathe and make sure that I was doing my job to keep everybody else on the scene safe.”
Rugg was knocked down when the crash occurred because of debris that hit his leg, but his injuries weren’t really a concern to him, he said.
“The first thing on my mind once the crash happened was to make sure that everybody was all right, to get the road blocked off,” Rugg said.
Related:
Utah trooper, 2 others injured in crash
A trooper and two other people were injured Sunday in a crash while the trooper was investigating an earlier crash, officials said. About 7:30 p.m., the trooper was investigating a crash on westbound I-80 near Lambs Canyon, according to the Utah Highway Patrol. The trooper's vehicle was parked in the left-hand travel lane, troopers said.The woman who drove the truck was ejected and flown to a hospital with unspecified injuries, UHP officials said.
As of Sunday night, UHP officials didn’t know what caused the truck to hit the car.
But UHP Maj. Steven Windward said this was a “close call” that serves as a good example of why drivers need to slow down or pull over when emergency crews are on the road.
“Be aware of your surroundings,” he advised.
