Investigators said that the driver of the pickup truck that crashed into a Starbucks in McHenry — leaving several people hospitalized — was experiencing a medical emergency prior to the crash.
The McHenry Township Fire Protection District and McHenry Police Department responded around 4:40 p.m. Thursday to Starbucks, 4305 West Elm Street, for a report of a vehicle that struck the building.
McHenry Police Department Public Information Officer Patrick Polidori said that a full-size Dodge Ram pickup truck, driven by a 53-year-old Lakemoor man, was traveling westbound on Elm Street and left the roadway to the east near Oak Drive.
The vehicle continued westbound off the roadway and collided with the northeast corner of the Starbucks after striking a white Nissan SUV in the drive-thru area.
At least a dozen ambulances along with fire crews from departments throughout Lake and McHenry counties were called to the scene through the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS).
Firefighters extricated one victim from underneath the truck, Polidori said, adding that five people were injured in total.
Four of them were transported by ambulance to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry and one of the four, a 21-year-old male Starbucks employee, was subsequently transported by Flight For Life to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville.
A second Starbucks employee was treated for minor injuries and is now reported to be in good condition. The driver of the Nissan SUV has been treated and released from the hospital.
The pickup truck driver will not be cited or charged by police after the McHenry County Regional Major Crash Investigation Team determined he suffered a medical emergency, Polidori said.
McHenry Planning and Development is assessing the building’s structural integrity.