Police said that no one was wearing their seatbelt and there were no airbags in the Jeep that crashed into a tree, leaving three Woodstock men dead early Sunday morning.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, Woodstock Police Department and Woodstock Fire/Rescue were called to the area of 3221 Lily Pond Road just after 3:30 a.m. Sunday for a single-vehicle crash.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office said that a 1994 Jeep Cherokee was driving northbound on Lily Pond Road when it left the roadway just north of the railroad tracks. The Jeep struck a tree on the west side of the road, authorities added.
McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy Sandra Rogers said that four men were in the vehicle and none of them were believed to be wearing their seatbelt during the crash. Three of the men were pronounced dead at the scene and the fourth was transported to Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital, Rogers added.
The man was transferred to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge with life-threatening injuries.
Rogers said that the driver of the Jeep was a 20-year-old. The two passengers pronounced dead at the scene were 20 and 21 years old. The fourth man who suffered life-threatening injuries is 20 years old. Names of the the victims, who were all residents of Woodstock, have not yet been officially released.
“It was foggy, the roads were icy, and we have a witness who said the vehicle was driving above the posted speed limit,” Rogers said at the scene. The Jeep was also not equipped with airbags, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday evening.
The crash remains under investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Major Crash Investigations Unit and the McHenry County Coroner’s Office.