A woman and a man are both dead after a boat driving recklessly on the Fox River traveled onto land, hit a house and rolled over near McHenry Saturday evening.
The McHenry Township Fire Protection District, McHenry County Sheriff’s Office and Illinois Conservation Police responded around 5:40 p.m. Saturday to the 600 block of Country Club Drive in unincorporated McHenry.
911 callers reported a boat had driven off of the Fox River, struck a house and rolled over.
A 911 dispatcher reported the boat had been doing “donuts” on the water prior to the crash.
Two victims were reported to be trapped in the wreckage.
Paramedics arrived and confirmed a woman was dead on the scene and a man was seriously injured, fire officials said.
A LifeNet medical helicopter landed nearby at McHenry High School East Campus.
The helicopter flew a 62-year-old McHenry man from the scene to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville.
The 62-year-old man later died in the hospital from his injuries, officials said.
A witness, who did not wish to be named, told Lake and McHenry County Scanner she was eating with her family nearby on the patio of the Snuggery River Roadhouse.
The woman said she saw the boat traveling north on the Fox River while “going fast.”
The boat went towards the rocks along River Road near the Snuggery and did a “huge circle around, back toward the rocks” and made a right-hand turn still going “really fast,” the witness said.
The boat did not slow down before it went airborne and crashed, the woman said.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office and McHenry County Coroner’s Office are both in the process of scheduling autopsies on the two victims.
The Illinois Conservation Police are investigating the crash and have not yet released information on the incident.