DPS trooper injured and driver dead after van hit patrol SUV on in Chambers County

A state trooper is hospitalized and a driver is dead after the driver plowed into the back of the trooper’s patrol SUV on the shoulder of Interstate 10 in Chambers County. It happened shortly after 7:00 Tuesday morning. Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne says the trooper had pulled up on another trooper’s traffic stop to assist with a suspected intoxicated driver who was being uncooperative. Before the trooper could get out of his unit, it was slammed from behind by a large commercial type van. The other driver, who has not been identified pending notification of next-of-kin, was pronounced dead at the scene. Meanwhile, the injured trooper, who has also not yet been identified, was flown from the scene by medical helicopter to a Houston hospital and was, at last word, listed in stable condition with head trauma and a possible punctured lung.