INDIANA TROOPER NARROWLY ESCAPES INJURY IN CRASH ON U.S. 31

A reportedly intoxicated driver slammed his pickup truck into the rear of an Indiana State Police cruiser early Sunday on U.S. 31, nearly hitting the trooper, police said. About 2 a.m., Trooper Dan Burch, assigned to the Bremen post, said he had been driving on the highway, just south of the St. Joseph Valley Parkway, when his vehicle struck an object in the road. Wanting to know what he hit, Burch said he doubled back, stopped his car in the southbound passing lane, and exited the vehicle.

After removing a 2-foot-long piece of 2-inch-by-6-inch wood from the road, Burch was walking in front of his car when he looked up and saw a white Chevy pick-up truck fast approaching. He jumped onto a concrete median as the truck struck his cruiser. Burch said he had activated his emergency lights before leaving his vehicle to remove the debris from the road.

"Based on the impact, he wasn't going slow," said Burch, 32, who said this was his third "close call" on the road in his three years on the force. "I thank the Lord I saw him coming. If I hadn't jumped out from in front of my (police car), he would have plowed the car right into me and I'd be in the hospital right now."Police arrested James W. Biggers, 23, of South Bend, on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. He posted $500 bond and was released from the St. Joseph County Jail shortly after noon, a jail deputy said.

Police measured Biggers' blood alcohol content at .14, nearly twice Indiana's legal limit for driving. Biggers was uninjured, Burch said. "He said he was on his cell phone with his girlfriend and didn't see me," Burch said.