Standoff at Rend Lake Ends Peacefully

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A police standoff at an accident scene along Rt. 154 near the Gun Creek area of Rend Lake caused some anxious moments Thursday afternoon. The area is located near the turnoff to the Rend Lake golf course.

Illinois State Police say Michael Glenn Craddock, 60, threatened to shoot officers and other emergency personnel who responded to his truck crash on Illinois 154.

According to state police spokesman David Sneed, Craddock was traveling eastbound on Illinois 154 toward Sesser when, according to a witness traveling behind him, he turned on his right turn signal. There was no road to the right, but Craddock made the right turn and crashed when his vehicle went down an embankment toward the lake.

When police and emergency personnel responded to the crash, he threatened to shoot them, according to the report.

Police were able to talk Craddock out of the confrontation and he was taken to Franklin Hospital in Benton for treatment and later airlifted to a St. Louis-area hospital. A gun was found inside the vehicle, along with evidence of alcohol and drugs, Sneed said. A rollback wrecker pulled the car up from the embankment.