A driver was flown to the hospital in critical condition after he ran a red light and crashed under a semi-truck trailer at a high rate of speed near Antioch Monday morning.
The Antioch Fire Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded around 6:20 a.m. Monday to Route 173 and Route 45 in unincorporated Antioch for a vehicle crash with injuries.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said deputies arrived to find a crash involving a car and a semi-truck.
A preliminary investigation shows the driver of a semi-truck, a 64-year-old Round Lake man, was traveling northbound on Route 45.
The driver of the semi-truck proceeded through the intersection at Route 173 on a green light.
A 2007 BMW 328i sedan, driven by a 38-year-old Schaumburg man, was traveling westbound on Route 173.
The BMW disobeyed the red light and drove directly under the tractor-trailer of the semi-truck, Covelli said.
The driver of the BMW appears to have been traveling at a high rate of speed, Covelli said.
Firefighters worked to extricate the heavily trapped driver from the BMW.
A Flight For Life helicopter from Wisconsin was requested and landed at the scene.
The driver of the BMW was flown to Advocate Condell Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. The driver of the semi-truck was uninjured.
Covelli said deputies were responding to the same area moments before the crash after receiving reports of a reckless BMW sedan.
The reckless driver was confirmed to be the same one involved in the crash.
Alcohol impairment appears to be a factor for the driver of the BMW, Covelli said.
The crash remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Team.