High Speed Chase, Crash on Interstate South of Effingham

Details are now available on a high-speed chase and crash that occurred south of Effingham on I-57.

The incident occurred Friday.  State police say a trooper stopped a car driven by 20-year-old Kristopher Farrell of Indianapolis in the interstate construction zone at Effingham for speeding 72MPH in a 45MPH zone.  As the trooper exited his squad car to approach the stopped vehicle, the car took off again and headed south on I-57. 

About three miles south of Effingham, the speeding vehicle attempted to pass a semi on the right on the shoulder of the roadway at a speed estimated at 90MPH.  When trying to merge back onto the roadway, the speeding car clipped the semi.  The speeding car then began skidding on the roadway and then rolled over several times, coming to rest on its wheels on the frontage road that runs parallel along the interstate.

Farrell was cited for a number of counts including DUI drugs, speeding in a construction zone and traveling 90MPH in a 65MPH zone.

Farrell was injured and was taken to St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham and was then airlifted to Carle Hospital in Urbana.

The driver of the clipped semi, 26-year-old Anthony Nystrom of Lewisville, Texas, was not injured.