Hoffman Estates man fatally struck by semitrailer on tollway

A Hoffman Estates man who got out of his truck in the middle of the Jane Addams Tollway Thursday morning was fatally struck by another truck, authorities said Friday.

For unknown reasons, the man's box truck was stopped in the third westbound lane of Interstate 90 just east of Route 53 near the Arlington Heights-Rolling Meadows border at 10:07 a.m., according to Illinois State Police.

The driver got out of the truck and was in the next lane of traffic when a semitrailer swerved left to avoid hitting the box truck, but ended up striking the driver in the road, police said.

The man, identified as 63-year-old Petu I. Petrov, was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:31 a.m. Thursday, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be blunt force injuries of the head.

The driver of the semitrailer, a 56-year-old resident of Wabash, Indiana, refused medical attention.

The crash shut down the westbound lanes of the tollway for nearly three hours Thursday.