State trooper crashes car, flees before it burns

4/5/2005

DELPHOS, Ohio - A state trooper escaped from his crashed patrol car shortly before it burst into flames after a late night wreck Sunday in Allen County, the Ohio Highway Patrol's Van Wert post reported yesterday.

Trooper Chad Spallinger, 27, was treated and released at St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima after the one-car crash, which occurred at 11:30 p.m. on State Rt. 66 near Bloomlock Road.

The trooper was responding to a request to back up an officer doing a traffic stop, the post reported. Trooper Spallinger's car slid off the road, struck a sign post, and turned over, coming to rest on its wheels. He got out of the car, which caught fire. By the time the Delphos Fire Department and EMS arrived, flames had engulfed the vehicle.