NEWTON, Iowa — New dashcam video involving an Iowa State Patrol car attending the 40-car pileup on I-80 last week reveals just how close the trooper was to getting hurt.
Sgt. Alex Dinkla released the video to Local 5 on Friday.
It has three angles, two exterior and one from inside the trooper's car.
The trooper pulled up to the crash, encountering several semis and cars already banged up. The trooper got out of his car to start working the scene, and shortly after his patrol car is hit from behind by a semi tractor-trailer.
Minutes later, a tanker-trailer rolled onto the patrol car.
Multiple vehicle pile-up on I-80 near Newton
"I still have a job to do to protect everyone else on the roadways," Trooper Jave Colburn said. "As that SUV is getting crunched, we still have cars [coming] at us in that ditch. So we're trying to protect everyone. That's with us to get them over a fence line and further into safety."
"My sergeant is trying to line up a bus because it is frigid out here and there are people without jackets, gloves, hats."
Luckily, Colburn survived and didn't sustain any injuries. I-80 west near Newton was shut down for hours on Feb. 4.
Snow, ice, and wind created tough driving conditions for many drivers that day.