Police trooper in fatal crash involved in other accidents

COLLINSVILLE -- An Illinois State Police trooper involved in a crash last week that killed two teenage sisters has had two accidents in his six-year career, police officials said Friday.

Trooper Matt Mitchell was involved in a single-vehicle crash with no injuries in 2002, State Police Director Larry Trent said.

The following year he rear-ended a vehicle at a low speed, resulting in a substantial judgment against the state. No one was treated at the scene, but a person in the car later sought treatment for aggravation of a pre-existing condition, Trent said.

Sisters Jessica Uhl, 18, and Kelli Uhl, 13, of Collinsville were returning from a holiday family photo session when they died after being hit by Mitchell's squad car. The incident shut down Interstate 64, about 15 miles east of St. Louis, for hours.

Mitchell remained hospitalized Friday in St. Louis, where he has undergone three surgeries and faces a fourth.

A video system inside Mitchell's cruiser was not activated at the time of the crash, so there is no visual record to help identify the car that Mitchell said cut in front of him and forced him to lose control, Trent said. Only 20 percent of Illinois' state police vehicles are equipped with digital cameras that activate automatically, he said.

Investigators have interviewed 75 people, and only a handful claim Mitchell was not using his lights and sirens as he headed east on Interstate 64 to respond to an injury accident, Trent said.

A witness claimed he saw a white car with large tail lights drive into Mitchell's path, causing him to steer his squad car into the median and into a westbound vehicle, Trent said.

The crash remains under investigation, he said.