Semi plows into house

POLO – John and Margery Engel returned Wednesday afternoon to their Pines Road home east of town to find an uninvited house guest – a 1987 Peterbilt semitrailer.

Video: Click to see video and interviews from the scene.

Margery said that when she headed home from work about 4 p.m., sheriff’s deputies and emergency crews were blocking the road at the intersection with Lowell Park Road.

The semi, driven by James Friedrichs, 55, of Sterling, was on its side and lodged, along with part of the trailer, between the Engels’ front porch and a large tree.

A John Deere tractor poked out from inside the shattered trailer, which was partially wedged in the tree.

“They wouldn’t let me through, so I left my car at the corner and walked down here through the backyards,” she said.

John showed up a few minutes later. He shook his head as he surveyed the scene.

“Unbelievable,” he said. “Yesterday I was mowing this. Just think if it had happened then.”

Margery said that in the 20-plus years she and her husband have lived there, many accidents have occurred at the intersection.

“We thought we were safe up on the hill, but evidently we’re not,” she said.

Friedrichs’ son, Jared, 24, also of Sterling, said he and his father had been headed to a tractor pull in Jefferson, Wis., when they collided with a car at the intersection, just three houses west of the Engels’ home.

“A car pulled out in front of us, so my dad went into the other lane. After that, I just remember leaves and branches,” he said.

Ogle County Sheriff’s Police said James Friedrichs was eastbound on Pines Road approaching the intersection when a car driven by Myrtle Filipi, 82, of Arvada, Colo., pulled into the intersection and collided with the semi.

Filipi was northbound on Lowell Park Road. The crash occurred at 3:47 p.m.

Traffic at the intersection is controlled by stop signs on Lowell Park Road. Traffic on Pines Road is not required to stop.

Police said when Friedrichs took evasive maneuvers, the semi drove off the left side of the road.

The semi then went up an embankment into the Engel’s front yard, broke off a large maple tree, and struck the house and the second tree.

James Friedrichs and Filipi were transported by Polo ambulance to KSB Hospital, Dixon, for treatment of minor injuries.

Jared Friedrichs was treated at the scene.

Filipi’s passenger, Terrence Filipi, 60, also from Colorado, declined medical attention.

The accident remains under investigation.