Part Of I-94 Being Named In Honor Of Fallen ISP Trooper Ellis

GREEN OAKS, IL — A half-mile stretch of highway on Interstate 94 in Green Oaks will be dedicated Monday, Oct. 21 in honor of fallen Illinois State Police Trooper Gerald W. Ellis, Illinois State Police announced. The Trooper Gerald W. Ellis Memorial Highway will run from mile marker 16.5 to 17.0 in Green Oaks, according to ISP. Illinois State Police, elected officials, family members, friends, and colleagues will pay tribute during a dedication ceremony to the bravery and courage of 36-year-old Ellis, an Antioch resident who was killed on the morning of Saturday, March 30.

The dedication ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. at the Townline Community Park, 1555 Kennedy Road in Lake Forest. A procession to the dedication site will conclude the ceremony, ISP said.

The public may pay tribute near the dedication site on the Bradley Road Bridge, according to police.

Ellis was assigned to ISP District 15 in Downers Grove and was an 11-year veteran of the department. He leaves behind a wife, two children, a brother and his parents. Ellis was also a veteran of the United States military.

On March 30, Ellis was on-duty traveling home in his squad car in the westbound lanes of the highway when he was struck head-on by a wrong-way driver, Illinois State Police said in a press release. The crash happened around 3:25 a.m. Ellis was taken to the hospital with life threatening injuries. He succumbed to his injuries shortly after 4 a.m.

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The wrong-way driver, 44-year-old Dan Davies, from Calumet City, was the only occupant of the other car and was also killed in the crash, officials said. State officials said Davies did not hold a valid driver's license, had multiple DUIs and there was no evidence he'd even held a valid license since 1996, reports said.