Lake County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a traffic crash with injuries about 3:45 p.m. Monday, March 6, 2023, at the intersection of Route 60 and Saint Marys Road in Mettawa. Lake County Sheriff’s deputies arrived and found three vehicles involved in the crash — a Kia Optima, a GMC Sierra, and a Toyota 4-Runner. Vernon Hills Police Officers who arrived on the scene along with responding sheriff’s deputies performed first aid and utilized an automated external defibrillator on the front-seat passenger of the Kia Optima, prior to the arrival of paramedics.
The driver of a Kia Optima was transported to Level 1 Trauma Center Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville with non-life-threatening injuries; but a front-seat passenger in the Kia was impaled by a wooden fence post during the crash, and transported to Level 1 Trauma Center Advocate Condell Medical Center suffering critical, life-threatening injuries. A back-seat passenger in the Kia was transported to Lake Forest Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the GMC Sierra, a 34-year-old man of Round Lake Beach, was transported to Lake Forest Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Toyota 4-Runner, a 60-year-old man of Watervliet, Michigan, and his passenger, a 23-year-old man of Riverwoods, were uninjured.
Preliminary investigation shows a 2018 Kia Optima was traveling eastbound on Route 60. The occupants of the Kia, who crash investigators are still working to identify, were involved in a retail theft in Vernon Hills. Following the retail theft, the driver of the Kia fled eastbound on Route 60, recklessly, at a high rate of speed.
As the Kia approached Saint Marys Road, the stoplight was red for Route 60 traffic. The driver of the Kia ran the red light and was struck by a southbound 2012 GMC Sierra. The Kia then left the roadway on the southeast corner of the intersection and drove into a wooden fence. A large piece of fencing went through the windshield of the Kia Optima, and impaled a front seat passenger.
Following the collision with the Kia, the GMC collided with a 2016 Toyota 4-Runner, which was facing northbound, in the turn lane to turn left onto westbound Route 60.
The crash remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Unit. The retail theft remains under investigation by Vernon Hills Police Department.
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