Cloture Motion
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, yesterday in Warren, IL, a small town on the Illinois-Wisconsin border, mourners from near and far lined the streets and packed the town's high school to say good-bye to a local hero. They came to honor and bid farewell to an Illinois State trooper, Brooke Jones-Story, who was killed in the line of duty last Thursday.
Trooper Jones-Story had pulled over a truck a little after noon and was inspecting it on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 20 in Freeport, just west of Rockford, IL, when a semitrailer crashed into her squad car and the truck she had stopped. The squad car and truck she had pulled over burst into flames. Trooper Jones-Story, a devoted public servant, 11- year veteran of the Illinois State police, wife, stepmother, daughter, sister, lifelong fan of the Chicago Cubs, fan of Disney movies, animal rescuer, and a CrossFit workout enthusiast, died instantly. She was 34 years old. No one else was injured.
Sadly and unbelievably, Trooper Jones-Story was the second of three Illinois State troopers who have died this year after being struck by vehicles on the sides of roads and highways.
Three State troopers in Illinois were killed in less than 3 months. All told, 16 Illinois State Troopers have been struck by vehicles so far this year, several suffering serious injuries.
Let me tell you about the other two heroes we lost.
Just 2 days after Trooper Jones-Story died, Trooper Jerry Ellis was killed by a wrong-way driver near Libertyville, IL.
It happened at 3:25 in the morning. The driver was headed in the wrong direction on Interstate 94 in Green Oaks when he hit Trooper Ellis's squad car head-on. The driver who caused the crash was also killed.
Jerry Ellis was 36 years old. He had been an Illinois State Trooper for 11 years. Before that he had served his country in the U.S. Army in Iraq.
He and his wife Stacy are the parents of two little girls, Kaylee, age 7, and Zoe, age 5.
Chris Lambert, in fact, was the first Illinois State trooper killed this year. It was January 12. He had just finished his shift and was on his way home when he stopped during a snowstorm to help at the scene of a three-car accident on Interstate 294 in Northbrook.
Another driver, apparently trying to avoid the pileup, swerved onto the left shoulder of the highway, where Trooper Lambert was standing, and hit him and killed him.
Trooper Lambert was 34 years old. He, too, was an Army veteran. He served in Iraq and Haiti. He had been with the Illinois State Police since 2013.
He and his wife Halley were parents of a 14-month-old daughter, Delaney. The driver who hit him has been charged with felony reckless homicide.
What makes the deaths of these three public servants--these three heroes--even harder to bear is that our State of Illinois passed a law nearly 20 years ago that was supposed to make roads safer for police and other emergency responders.
It is called the ``Move Over'' Law or Scott's Law. It was named after the Chicago Fire Department lieutenant, Scott Gillen, who was killed in 2000 by a drunken driver while working on a crash scene on the Chicago freeway.
Scott's Law requires motorists to slow down, and, if possible, move over when they see a parked squad car, fire engine, or ambulance with flashing lights. If you can't change lanes, slow down and proceed cautiously. That is what Scott's Law says.
It was expanded in 2017 to include all vehicles stopped with hazard lights on, including tow trucks. Violators can lose their license and face stiff fines--up to $10,000.
Every State has some form of Scott's Law. Police and other first responders in many States are working to draw attention to these laws and to enforce them.
I believe the Federal Government needs to do more. In the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization bill, I will be working not only to increase funding for highway safety grants to provide States with the resources they need to better enforce these laws but also to encourage people all across America to be sensitive to the men and women who are serving us in public capacities in law enforcement and other responsibilities. They deserve our respect and our caution.
Despite these measures, Illinois State Police have seen a troubling increase in incidents in which a squad car with its lights flashing has been hit by a passing car. In 2016, there were 5 such incidents; in 2017, 12; and last year, 8. Just a little over 3 months into this year, already there have been 16 such incidents, with 3 young troopers dead.
Two days ago, April 1, was Illinois State Trooper Day--a day set aside each year to honor the dedicated men and women of the Illinois State Police.
As Brendan Kelly, now the acting director of the Illinois State Police said: ``In 97 years, 69 men and women of the Illinois State Police bravely put on their uniforms to serve the citizens of this State and never returned home.''
But this is the first time in 66 years that the Illinois State Police have lost three state troopers in 1 year, and the year is only a few months over.
State police are uncertain what is driving this deadly trend, but Lucy Kuelper--and I would like to show you her photograph here.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DURBIN. Lucy Kuelper, a sixth grader from rural Rio, IL, hopes that she may have a way to stop the terrible losses.
I thank the Senator from New York.
Lucy is just 12 years old, but she knows the fear of watching someone you love go to work and the worry that you might never see them again. Lucy's dad, her hero, John Kuelper, is also a State trooper.
When Lucy learned about the number of State troopers who had been hit and killed recently, she asked her dad: What can I do?
Together, they came up with an idea. With help from her mom, Jessica, Lucy created a Facebook page to raise awareness about Scott's Law. She calls her page the Move Over Project.
She posted the photo, shown here, of herself standing next to her dad, holding up a sign that says hashtag ``move over . . . for my DAD.''
She asked other loved ones in the police force and other emergency services to post similar photos with hashtag ``move over for . . .'' and fill in the blank.
In 5 days, Lucy's Facebook page received more than 14,000 ``likes.'' People have sent in photos from all over the country. They want people to move over for their dads, moms, sisters, brothers, uncles, and friends. There are photos of firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and tow truck drivers standing next to spouses, children, infants, parents, friends, and pets.
This week, the State of Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service honored Lucy with its Volunteer of the Week Award. She deserved it, but Lucy says the only reward she wants is for people to follow the law and move over, so her dad and others like him who do dangerous jobs will be able to come home to their families at the end of the day.
I want to thank Lucy for her efforts in starting the Move Over Project. Look at the faces and the families involved. Remember them the next time you see an emergency vehicle on a highway with its lights flashing parked along a roadway. Move over and save lives.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source