ISP exhibit shows ‘Lacy’s Last Text’

Posted on August 15, 2019
The Illinois State Police tent at the Illinois State Fair has a jarring exhibit which is a testament to putting down your phone in the car. (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – You can’t miss it if you walk past the Illinois State Police tent at the state fair. A pickup truck which hit a telephone pole broadside, almost smashing the truck in two and killing the driver.

Lacy Hood, 16, of Whittington, in southern Illinois, had just gotten her license in 2015 when she wrecked the truck while texting. Her father bought the truck back from the insurance company, mounted it on a trailer, and gave it to the State Police to haul around the state as a startling example of what can happen.

In Lacy’s case, it happened two months after getting her license.

“The number of people who have come up to us and said, this is the best thing you ever could have done for the community, for the people. You hope that when we go to a presentation and talk to five people, if I can change one, that’s what we’re after.”

The exhibit is called “Lacy’s Last Text.”

The fair is on through Sunday.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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