‘Oh my God, I don’t know how he survived’ – Ashton semi driver recalls February crash along I-88 near Dixon

DIXON – “Finally we’ve got somebody who survived it and we can talk about it.”

That’s what semi driver Eric Dodge of Ashton remembered Wednesday, June 4, as he talked about an EMS worker’s response in the moments after his truck veered off Interstate 88 between Rock Falls and Dixon in February, launched over the Bollman Road overpass and landed in a cornfield.

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His first stop back at the scene of the accident, Eric Dodge looks over the repaired guardrail Wednesday, June 4, 2025, on Bollman Road. Tracks from his truck can still be seen from the February accident. (Alex T. Paschal)

On Feb. 3, Dodge was hauling 50,000 pounds of UAN-32, a liquid nitrogen fertilizer, from Wever, Iowa, to Maplehurst Farms in Rochelle, a routine day for the 30-year semi driver at PBJ Transport in Davis Junction.

Just before the crash, Dodge said he was driving east on I-88 near Dixon with his cruise control set at 75 mph.

“I was taking a drink and it went down the wrong pipe. I started coughing real hard, got it cleared out, and I took another sip. I’m driving for another 20 to 30 seconds, and everything just went black,” he said.

When Dodge woke up he was lying on the dashboard, scrunched up against the passenger-side window. Aside from intense pain in his right side and one of his feet, Dodge said he didn’t feel too much pain. He was able to roll the window down and look outd.

“I’m like, that’s not where my ax is supposed to be, but OK, no fire. I’m alive,” he said.

About a minute later, Dodge said a passerby came around the front of his truck and said, “Oh my, you’re alive. We got help on the way.”

Several area agencies responded to the scene, including the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Rock Falls Fire Department, Illinois State Police and CGH ambulance - which Dodge said he somewhat remembers.

“I remember the jingling of the accessories on the fire gear. … I started talking to whoever it was. I basically gave him a rundown of what’s broke" and explained that he was hauling fertilizer, which “if it gets on you, it’ll burn like transmission fluid,” Dodge said.

The patch of farmland where the truck landed still is completely bare four months later because of the concentrated fertilizer spill.

“I don’t know if that field in that corner is going to grow anything in three to five years. There’s so much of it on there nondiluted that it’s just going to burn that part of the soil,” Dodge said.

He recalls how emergency responders pulled him out of the passenger-side door and “I remember one of the guys saying ‘Oh my God, I don’t know how he survived,’” Dodge said.

They loaded him into the ambulance and started heading to Dixon, but stopped and turned around before driving fast toward Rock Falls. The crew told Dodge they needed to fly him to Peoria because he needed trauma 1 care, he said.

Dodge remembers thinking “Why? I’m not that serious. ... I didn’t feel that bad. I felt pretty good,” he said, adding that he was completely cognizant and aware during the whole ordeal, which came as somewhat of a shock to medical personnel.

At the hospital in Peoria, Dodge said he learned the full extent of his injuries, which included several spinal fractures, multiple fractures in his ankle, facial trauma, a broken wrist and several ribs that were fractured in multiple places.

Dodge said he knew at least two of his ribs were broken when he woke up in the truck “because I could feel them clicking against each other.”

He spent a month and two days in the hospital, where he underwent multiple surgeries, including a spinal fusion. Now, in June, he’s still recovering, but is able to walk with a boot on his foot. The walking boot will keep the bones in his ankle together, Dodge said.

When asked if he’d ever go back to truck driving, Dodge said, “I want to go back,” but in the meantime he’s been looking at office work or work-from-home jobs where he doesn’t need to spend a lot of time on his feet.