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SPANISH FORK — A Utah Highway Patrol trooper was struck as he sat in his car on I-15 Thursday.
Trooper Blake Bradford had stopped a driver on northbound I-15 about 8:15 a.m. when another vehicle slid off the road, hitting a concrete barrier. The car bounced off the wall and rotated 180 degrees, hitting the back of the trooper's car, UHP Sgt. Todd Royce said.
"The roads were glazed down in that area, so they were kind of wet and slick," he said.
The impact also pushed Bradford's vehicle into the car he had stopped. The drivers in both civilian cars were unharmed.
The trooper was taken from the scene by ambulance to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, experiencing pain in his head, neck and arm, Royce said. Bradford remained there for observation Thursday evening in serious but stable condition.
It's unlikely Bradford will remain hospitalized for more than another day, Royce said. "He is injured … but we're hoping that he'll make a full recovery, which we're pretty optimistic that he will."
Two lanes of northbound I-15 were closed while crews cleared the scene. Spanish Fork police will investigate the crash.
Contributing: Sam Penrod, Ben Lockhart