23-Year-Old Man Killed in Accident on I-55: State Police

A 23-year-old Indiana man was killed when his pickup truck rear-ended a semi-trailer tractor on Interstate-55 near the Arsenal Road exit in Channahon early Tuesday morning (June 11, 2013).

Michael Gruse, 23, of Osceola, Ind., was pronounced dead at the scene, said Sgt. Scott Angus of the Illinois State Police's District 5 office in Joliet.

Angus said traffic was moving slowly or had come to a stop in the northbound lanes on I-55 at mile-marker 244 when the accident occured at 12:37 a.m. He said IDOT crews were doing lane closures while removing beams from the old Arsenal Road bridge.

"At that time, the pickup truck rear-ended a semi-trailer tractor that already was in the construction zone," Angus said.

He said Gruse was driving the pickup—a 2004 Dodge Ram. The pickup truck was totaled, Angus said.

He said William Vaughn, 58, of Memphis, Tenn., was driving the semi-trailer tractor. Angus said Vaughn was not injured in the accident, which is still under investigation.

Angus said the cause of the accident is unknown. He said IDOT crews were using portable lights to illuminate the area and were working during their normal nighttime business hours—between midnight and 4 a.m.

Angus said traffic on the northbound lanes of I-55 was shut down for a period of time during the early morning hours while crews worked to remove debris from the accident.