DOWNERS GROVE, Illinois- A trooper killed in a head-on collision will have a stretch of highway named in his memory.
Illinois State Police (ISP) Officials and the Ellis family were joined by Illinois State Senator Melinda Bush, Illinois State Representative Joyce Mason, Illinois Tollway Officials, Green Oaks Mayor Bernard Wysocki, the Illinois Troopers Lodge 41, as well as by family and friends, at the ceremony commemorating the dedication of the Trooper Gerald W. Ellis Memorial Highway to honor fallen Illinois State Trooper Gerald W. Ellis.
Officials say The Trooper Gerald W. Ellis Memorial Highway is a half-mile stretch of highway located on I-94 from mile marker 16.5 to 17.0 in Lake County, Illinois.
On March 30, 2019, Trooper Gerald W. Ellis was on-duty in his squad car traveling home on I‑94 westbound near milepost 16.75 in Green Oaks, when a wrong-way driver, who was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes, struck Trooper Ellis head-on. Trooper Ellis tragically lost his life as a result of the injuries sustained in the crash.