State trooper recovering after 18-wheeler hits him

By Erik Sanzenbach
St. Tammany News
Published on Monday, May 5, 2008 9:52 AM CDT

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A Louisiana State Police trooper is lucky to be alive and in good shape after an 18-wheeler hit him while he was surveying an accident scene Thursday afternoon on Interstate 55 near Pass Manchac.

State Police spokesman for Troop L, Trooper Louis Calato, said Trooper Joseph Kendall, an eight-year veteran of the Louisiana State Police and assigned to Troop L, had blocked off the left lane of I-55 going north around 1 p.m. in order to do a follow up investigation of an accident that had occurred a week earlier. Calato said Kendall’s emergency lights were on, and Kendall was standing on the left shoulder guardrail at the time of the incident.

A 1997 Volvo tractor-trailer, driven by Benjamin Gravely, 63, of Bolivar, Mo., failed to see the traffic slowing to merge into the right lane of the interstate.

Gravely tried to stop his truck but lost control and veered off into the left lane. The cargo trailer jackknifed and hit Kendall’s cruiser, which went airborne and was heading straight at Kendall.

The trooper fell to the ground and the car missed him, but the trailer hit him on the legs, chest and head, Calato said. The trailer than fell over on its left side and slide 80 feet down the highway before stopping.

Calato said Kendall was taken to North Oaks Medical Center in Tangipahoa Parish, where he was treated for a gash to the head and a broken right ankle, and released.

“He’s doing good and is at home with his family,” Calato said.

Gravely was not injured in the accident, but he was charged with careless operation of a motor vehicle.

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