Truck Driver Killed In 6-Vehicle Pileup In Highland Park
UPDATED 08/25/11 1:57 p.m.
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- A semi-truck driver is dead, and another is hospitalized, in a multi-vehicle pileup that snarled traffic in Highland Park as late as Thursday morning.
As CBS 2's Susanna Song reports, the two semis and four cars were involved in the crash on northbound Skokie Highway (U.S. 41) at the intersection with Half Day Road (Illinois Route 22).
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Police responded to the crash around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
A semi could not stop in time, which led to a domino effect.
One of the semis was mangled to the point where the cab was completely crushed and barely recognizable.
One of the truck drivers – Richard Stolt, 51, of Cleveland, Minn. – died of trauma from the fatal crash, Lake County Coroner Art Yancey told the Sun-Times Media Wire.
The other truck driver, a 62-year-old man, was taken to Highland Park Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Highland Park police said.
The four drivers of cars involved in the accident signed medical releases at the scene, police said.
Police were also able to save a puppy from one of the vehicles, who was reunited with his owner, CBS 2's David Morrison reported.
The driver of one of the cars explained what she heard and saw.
"We heard the truck behind us hit his brakes really, really hard, and then all of a sudden a bang, and that truck hit the car behind me, which hit another vehicle – two vehicles were behind me, this lady exactly – and then my vehicle hit another vehicle, and so it all happened so fast," said motorist Leda Robinson.
About a quarter mile of the northbound lanes of Route 41 remained closed as of 6:30 a.m. Thursday, as police investigated what happened.
