Pennsylvania: Trooper improving, no longer in critical condition

The condition of a state police trooper injured when he was struck by a vehicle on Interstate 81 in Butler Township on Friday has been upgraded from critical to serious.  Sgt. Robert E. Bemis, 47, assigned to the Bureau of Training and Education at the state police academy in Hershey and also director of the Honors Camp at that academy, was flown to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, for treatment of head and other injuries.

Bemis was originally listed in critical condition at the Montour County trauma center but a nursing supervisor on Tuesday said the sergeant is now in serious condition.  The crash occurred about 2:50 p.m. in the area of mile marker 121, three miles south of the Frackville exit. Bemis was driving south in an unmarked state police cruiser when he pulled over to assist at a vehicle fire with the driver, Victor K. Nolan, 36, of Arjay, Kentucky, standing outside.

Bemis pulled onto the berm of the road behind the trailer and he and Nolan were outside of the vehicles when Jamie Edmonds, 50, of Norfolk, Virginia, was driving a 2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer south, lost control of the vehicle and struck the Bemis vehicle pushing it into Bemis and Nolan. The investigation into the crash is continuing.