A multiple-vehicle collision that occurred this Tuesday morning in Beach Park is currently under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff's Traffic Crash Investigators. The incident took place near Sheridan Road and Michigan Boulevard, drawing a swift response from local sheriff's deputies around 8:00 a.m., according to a statement released on the Lake County government website.
The preliminary findings indicate that a 74-year-old Zion man was driving a GMC Acadia northbound on North Sheridan Road when he suddenly struck the stop arm of a school bus, which was stopped for loading with its stop arm extended and lights flashing. The bus, thankfully containing only two children and the driver, reported no injuries, as detailed by Lake County. In a dangerous sequence of events, the GMC continued to veer northbound, sideswiping a Ford Focus, which was subsequently sent crashing into a utility pole.
The chain reaction did not end there. The same GMC collided with a Chevrolet Colorado, driven by a 39-year-old Winthrop Harbor man, and a Ford Flex, driven by a 28-year-old Fox Lake woman. The driver of the GMC was reportedly taken to an area hospital in critical condition, while the drivers of the Ford Focus and the Chevrolet Colorado were transported with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, as per Lake County. Miraculously, the driver of the Ford Flex walked away uninjured from the chaos.
Authorities are looking into the possibility that the GMC driver might have suffered some sort of medical episode before the crash. The ongoing investigation by the Lake County Sheriff's Office Technical Crash Investigations Team seeks to bring clarity to the murky details of this troubling incident. As of now, the officials have not released any further information regarding the cause.
