State patrol trooper hit, hurt during traffic stop

A State Highway Patrol trooper was struck and injured by a passing motorist during a traffic stop in Union County.

Trooper Michael J. Austin had stopped a motorist for a traffic violation on Route 347 near East Liberty Road just before 5 p.m. when the incident occurred, said Lt. Robert Sellers, a spokesman for the patrol. The trooper was standing outside the driver’s window of the stopped vehicle when another vehicle struck the stopped state patrol car, the stopped motorist’s vehicle and the trooper, he said.

Austin was transported to Memorial Hospital of Union County with non-lifethreatening injuries, and later was released, Sellers said.

The driver of the vehicle that triggered the crash, Chad A. Wall, 42, of Lakeview, was not taken to the hospital.

Wall has been charged by state patrol with operating a vehicle while impaired.

The driver of the vehicle pulled over by the trooper sustained minor injuries and was not transported, Sellers said. He was not identified by the patrol.

An investigation into the crash is continuing.

Route 347 between Lunda Road in Union County and Rogers Road in Logan County was closed after the accident, then reopened to single-lane traffic until the wrecked vehicles and scene were cleared.