A 5-year-old Zion boy was killed, a 2-year-old boy critically injured and two others hurt in a head-on traffic crash Tuesday in Beach Park.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office identified the 5-year old as Sy’Mere McKnight. Preliminary autopsy results showed he died from injuries suffered in the crash, which occurred about 5 p.m. on Green Bay Road just north of Hart Street.
Lake County sheriff’s deputies responding to a report of a serious crash at that location found a Chevrolet Malibu and a GMC Sierra had collided head on, according to the Lake County Sheriff Deputy Chief Chris Covelli.
Preliminary investigation showed the crash occurred when the Malibu, driven by a 24-year old Waukegan man, was illegally passing other southbound vehicles on Green Bay Road by driving in the northbound lanes, the sheriff’s office reported.
The driver of the Sierra, a 57-year-old Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin man, was seriously injured and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, authorities said.
The Malibu’s driver also was seriously injured and had to be extricated by firefighters. A 2-year-old boy who had been on the Malibu driver’s lap also was critically injured and taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, officials said.
Before being taken to a hospital, the Malibu driver told deputies no one else was in the vehicle, according to Covelli. However, deputies later discovered the 5-year-old boy beneath debris behind the driver’s seat, he added. The boy was pronounced dead in the emergency room at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, according to the coroner’s office.
Preliminary findings suggest neither child we properly secured in a child safety seat at the time of the crash, according to Covelli. An investigation continues and appropriate criminal charges will be pursued, he added.
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