Updated at 10:10 p.m.
A Vermont State Police trooper remained hospitalized late Friday after his cruiser struck a parked fire truck on Interstate 89 in Bethel, according to a press release.
Cpl. Eric Vitali, 41, was being treated at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, for serious injuries, police said in an update at 7:18 p.m. Vitali is a 19-year veteran of the agency, they said.
The crash occurred around 8:30 a.m. in the northbound lanes north of the Bethel exit. Vitali, who is assigned to the Royalton Barracks, was driving in the passing lane of I-89 when his cruiser struck the back of an unoccupied Bethel Volunteer Fire Department tanker truck.
The truck was parked on the interstate to provide scene protection for a crash that had occurred at that location about an hour earlier, according to the release.
Vitali’s cruiser was apparently traveling at highway speeds, police said, and the force of the impact between his vehicle and the fire truck was significant.
Police said Vitali was wearing a seat belt. He was taken to the hospital by helicopter. No one else was injured.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Vitali was traveling to a first aid training at the state police headquarters in Waterbury at the time of the crash, police said.
The Bethel tanker truck was on scene in response to a crash that was caused when a box truck drive “swerved suddenly to avoid a slower-moving tractor-trailer unit,” police said, causing it to roll over.
The northbound lanes of I-89 were closed for around six hours.
Vitali joined the Vermont State Police in 2005 and is a member of the Critical Action Team, Underwater Recovery Team and the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program, according to state police. He also serves as a firearms instructor.
