The instincts of Nevada Highway Patrol Troopers Auer Gagne took over when their vehicles were hit on Aug. 5 while they were providing traffic control for a crash in the northbound lanes of Interstate 15 near Spring Mountain Road.
At 2:15 a.m., Trooper Gagne’s car was ahead of Trooper Auer’s vehicle in the left travel lane with their emergency lights activated. Trooper Auer walked away from his patrol vehicle and began lighting and placing flares out for traffic control.
Trooper Auer noticed a black Dodge Neon, which was traveling too fast for the wet conditions that night, headed straight towards him. He left over the center median to esacpe.
The driver of the Dodge laid heavily on the breaks but the front of the Dodge hit the back of Trooper Auer’s empty patrol car. The impact pushed Trooper Auer’s car towards Trooper Gagne’s car. Gagne was inside the patrol vehicle at the time.
The front of Trooper Auer’s car hit the rear of Trooper Gagne’s. Luckily, Trooper Auer and Gagne were both uninjured during the event. The driver and passenger of the Neon were transported to UMC Trauma with non-life threatening injuries.
This situation is still under investigation but they do suspect that the driver of the Dodge Neon may have been impaired.
