Tragedy struck on a Beach Park road when a head-on collision claimed the life of a five-year-old boy and left a toddler critically injured. The crash, involving a Chevrolet Malibu and a GMC Sierra, occurred around 5 p.m. Tuesday on Green Bay Road, as reported by WGN-TV. According to witnesses, a 24-year-old Waukegan man driving the Malibu was illegally passing other vehicles heading southbound by using the northbound lane.
The aftermath of the collision saw serious injuries sustained by the adult driver of the Malibu, a man, 57, from Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, who was behind the wheel of the GMC Sierra. Deputies arriving on the scene required the jaws of life to extricate the Malibu driver, as stated by ABC7 Chicago. Initially, the Malibu driver stated that there were no other passengers in his car, but a horrific discovery was made when deputies found a five-year-old boy beneath debris behind the driver's seat, unnoticed in the first chaos of the rescue.
Both injured children were passengers in the Chevrolet, with officials revealing that neither was properly secured in a child safety seat. The Lake County Sheriff's Office reported that the two-year-old boy, who was in critical condition, had been riding on the driver's lap at the time of the crash. The five-year-old, identified as Sy'mere McKnight of Zion, was taken urgently to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead from blunt force injuries according to the Lake County Coroner's Office findings.
An investigation into the deadly crash remains ongoing. Officials have disclosed that charges are pending against the Malibu's driver. The elder man, who was driving the GMC sustained serious injuries and also required hospitalization, but is now in stable condition.
