Three teenagers are in hospital with serious injuries, some life-threatening, after losing control of the car they were riding in and crashing violently into a tree near Hampshire.
The incident occured at approximately 7:30pm Monday evening on Dietrich Road, just west of US Route 20, a narrow 2-lane rural road with narrow shoulders and multiple crests and dips that the Kane County Sheriff’s Office notes is not new to serious and fatal injury crashes.
According to the preliminary investigation, a 2024 blue Hyundai Elantra, driven by a 16-year-old juvenile male from Huntley, was eastbound on Dietrich Road at a high rate of speed when the vehicle went airborne and exited the roadway. The driver attempted to gain control of the vehicle and returned the vehicle back onto the roadway of Dietrich Road, but then slid sideways, coming to a stop at a tree. The vehicle sustained heavy passenger side damage from hitting the tree, and both passengers had to be extricated from the vehicle.
The rear seat passenger, a fourteen-year-old male from Lake in the Hills, was airlifted to Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, with life threatening injuries (head and torso). The second front seat passenger, also a fourteen-year-old male from Lake in the Hills, was airlifted to Loyola Medicine Children’s Hospital in Maywood, Illinois with life-threatening injuries (broken femur to the right leg). The driver of the Hyundai was driven to Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital by the male’s parents with serious but non-threatening injuries (possible concussion).
Authorities indicate that speed likely played a factor in the crash, but citations/charges have not been authorized/issued at this time due to the pending investigation. It is unclear if the airbags deployed or if seatbelts had been used during the time of the crash.
