A trucker was seriously injured early this morning in an accident on I-80 in Lake County, the Indiana State Police said.

According to police, at 2:49 a.m. an off-duty ISP trooper stopped a suspected drunk driver on the outer shoulder of the eastbound lanes of I-80 east of Cline Ave., parking her unmarked squad car—its emergency lights activated—“behind” the suspected drunk driver’s vehicle but “partially in the right lane.”

Meanwhile, Michael O. Amede, 53, of Country Club Hills, Ill., was eastbound in the right lane when he “almost hit the (parked) police car,” just before shifting left into the middle right lane, where his rig was then rear ended by a second trucker, police said.

The second trucker—identified as Dennis C. Schulze, 50, of Beloit, Wis.—was pinned inside his cab “for an extended period of time” before being extricated and airlifted to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill., police said.

Schulze’s injuries were described as “life threatening,” police said.

All eastbound lanes were closed until approximately 7:15 a.m., when the inner shoulder and left lane were re-opened. As of 10:22 a.m., all eastbound lanes had been re-opened.

The suspected drunk driver, Ronald Blankenship, 21, of Gary, was transported to Lake County Jail on a charge of operating while intoxicated-refusal, police said.

Posted 6/20/2012