Photo by Iowa State Patrol of trooper’s car hit after fatal crash

One person died in a crash involving farm equipment west of Monroe earlier this morning.

According to the Iowa State Patrol, the collision occurred at approximately 8 a.m. eastbound near mile marker 24 on Highway 163. A van slammed into the back of farm machinery being pulled by a truck, which caused the van to catch fire.

Rex Lynn Chickering, 50, of Prairie City, was killed in the crash after his van caught fire. The driver of the truck was Curtis Wayne Kaisand, 53, of Monroe, and he was transported to Pella Regional Health Center. The Iowa State Patrol report indicated his life was likely saved by seat belt use.

Sgt. Nathan Ludwig tells KRLS News sunlight in Chickering’s eyes may have been a factor in the crash, but the cause is not officially determined.

While the Iowa State Patrol was providing traffic assistance after the crash, Ludwig says a semi slammed into a patrol car, sending it into a ditch (photo above).

“We had traffic set up for a detour setup, and we were warning motorists heading eastbound on Highway 163 of the accident ahead, and a state trooper was outside of his vehicle and saw a semi coming at him driving on the right side of the roadway–he could actually hear the rumble strips from his right side of tires, and the closer it got, the more the trooper thought that vehicle is not slowing down or moving over, and he took of running into the ditch, and the semi hit the patrol car and moved it a couple of hundred yards,” Ludwig says.

That driver was not injured, and the trooper was not inside the vehicle at the time. Distracted driving was considered a likely cause of the second crash.