Illinois state trooper injured in crash honored as Officer of the Year

An Illinois State Police trooper who was grievously injured in an on-duty crash was awarded Officer of the Year by the agency’s criminal patrol team.

On July 12, members of the ISP criminal patrol team held their annual awards meeting at the Illinois State Police District 5 headquarters in Lockport and presented the Officer of the Year award to trooper Brian Frank.

“Trooper Frank had significant success in 2020, interdicting and removing criminals from Illinois roadways,” state police officials said.

On Feb. 15, Frank was injured when his squad vehicle was struck by another vehicle while he was providing assistance at the scene of a crash on Interstate 55 near Route 30 in Will County.

Frank was sitting inside the parked squad car when a 2010 Cadillac SUV rammed the back of his vehicle, police said. Frank was “airlifted to a local area hospital with serious injuries,” Illinois State Police said.

“Trooper Frank remains hospitalized almost five months after the crash,” police said.

His wife, Lauren Frank, accepted the award on his behalf. She said at the meeting that her husband is the “most tangible example of humility I’ve ever met in my life, but that extends to all of you as well.”

“Brian is proud of you guys, too, more than you would ever know,” Lauren Frank said.

Angel Casillas of Joliet was ticketed in connection with the crash that injured Brian Frank.

On March 5, prosecutors with the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped the charges in light of an ongoing investigation of the crash.

“The Illinois State Police are conducting a traffic crash reconstruction, which will not be complete for several months,” Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Donna Hanson said in a motion. “Appropriate charges will be determined once all the evidence is complete.”

“The case is still ongoing and charges are pending further investigation,” trooper Omoayena Williams said Friday.

Will County State’s Attorney spokeswoman Carole Cheney also said the case remains under investigation by state police.

Casillas initially was cited for driving too fast for conditions or failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, failure to yield to emergency vehicles and following too closely, court records show.

The citations said the visibility was clear Feb. 15 and that the road conditions were “snow or slush.”

Brian Frank suffered serious brain injuries when his squad vehicle was rear-ended, and there was an “immense amount of swelling to the head, which was responded to immediately with surgery upon arrival at hospital,” according to a GoFundMe that was established for him.