The coroner said that the 61-year-old Lake Villa man who was killed following a pickup truck crash in unincorporated McHenry on Wednesday morning suffered a medical emergency.
The McHenry Fire Protection District was dispatched at around 10:19 a.m. to the area of Ringwood Road and Flanders Road in unincorporated McHenry for a report of a vehicle that struck a tree.
Crews arrived and found a pickup truck wrapped around a tree with a person in critical condition and unresponsive. Fire officials transported Gerald Goodwin, 61, of Lake Villa, to Centegra Hospital โ McHenry where he was pronounced dead at 11:17 a.m..
A preliminary investigation revealed that a 2004 Dodge Ram was traveling eastbound on Flanders Road when it swerved off the roadway to the north, came back onto the roadway and swerved off the roadway to the south where it struck at tree, according to a press release from the McHenry County Sheriffโs Office.
According to the McHenry County Coroner’s Office, before the crash witnesses reported seeing the man having “seizure type activity” as he was slumped over the steering wheel. While trying to assist him, the car began rolling forward then accelerated at a high rate of speed, crashing into a tree down the road.
An autopsy performed Thursday revealed that he died from blunt force injuries to the head and chest. The death investigation, accident reconstruction, witness statements, and toxicology testing is ongoing, McHenry County Coroner Dr. Anne L. Majewski said.
Authorities said that the driver was wearing his seatbelt and there was no airbag deployment. Flanders Road from Ringwood Road to Spojnia Road was closed following the crash for investigation.
The crash is under investigation by the McHenry County Sheriffโs Office Major Traffic Crash Investigation Unit and the McHenry County Coronerโs Office.