Truck driver pleads guilty to homicide for crash that killed trooper performing roadside inspection

A semi truck driver has pleaded guilty to charges related to a March 2019 crash that killed an Illinois State Police trooper.

On November 30, 56 year old truck driver Craig Dittmar pleaded guilty to one count of Reckless Homicide and one count of Safety Regulations Violations that resulted in Death.

The charges against Dittmar stem from a crash that happened on March 28, 2019, in Stephenson County, Illinois.

Around noon, 34 year old Illinois State Police Trooper Brooke Jones-Story was outside of her cruiser performing a roadside CMV inspection on Route 20 westbound near Freeport when “she was struck and fatally wounded when a truck tractor semi-trailer combination struck her squad car and the semi Trooper Jones-Story was inspecting.”

Both trucks caught fire after the crash.

During an April 2019 court appearance, an llinois State Police sergeant testified that Dittmar said that he fell asleep just before the fatal crash.

Jones-Story was a 12 year veteran Illinois State Police District 16 in Pecatonica.