A 56-year-old Winthrop Harbor man on Tuesday became the first person charged under a new Illinois law designed to protect police and firefighters after he allegedly swerved his semi-truck around an accident scene and sideswiped a Northbrook firetruck, according to Illinois State Police.
Fred Martin was charged with five offenses associated with last Thursday’s hit-and-run accident on the Tri-State Tollway near Dundee Road. He is accused of ignoring the firetruck’s emergency lights and siren, driving onto the shoulder of the road and then sideswiping the firetruck, narrowly missing two firefighters, according to Northbrook Fire Chief James Reardon.
Fire officials said that the truck driver initially stopped near the scene and was instructed to wait in his rig until paramedics could treat victims of an auto accident. Although the driver agreed, he drove off, officials said.
Charges include leaving the scene of an accident and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. Under Scott’s Law, named for Lt. Scott Gillen, a Chicago firefighter who was killed in December 2000, motorists who fail to yield to emergency vehicles at the scene of an accident are subject to license suspension or fines up to $10,000.