Published: May 07, 2008 12:13 pm            

State trooper rolls squad car

TEUTOPOLIS — At 9:22 p.m. Tuesday, Illinois State Police trooper Josh Fergus received a call of shots fired in Beecher City.

Responding to the call, Fergus lost control of the police car he was driving on a curve just south of Teutopolis in front of Little Buckaroo Saddle Club. Fergus’ vehicle rolled into the ditch and caught fire.

“At this point, we diverted the shooting call to the sheriff’s department and made the wreck our primary focus,” said Illinois state police Master Sgt. John Gardner. “We had state police respond to the accident.”

Teutopolis Fire Protection District responded as well, assisting with putting out flames in the car and remaining on scene until 11:10 p.m.

Fergus was taken to St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital and was treated for minor injuries and released.

Effingham County Sheriff’s Department and Illinois State Police District 12 were called to respond to the shots fired in Beecher City.

After the trooper’s accident, the sheriff’s department handled the shots fired call alone and arrested Max D. Tuttle, 36, of Beecher City for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, reckless discharge of a firearm and possession of drug paraphernalia. He is still in Effingham County Jail.

Additional details on the shooting incident were not available at presstime.

Tony Huffman can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 135 or tony.huffman@effinghamdailynews.com.