The Lake County Coroner’s Office has released the identity of an 89-year-old man who died after a car he was riding in collided with a pole near Gurnee Saturday afternoon.
Preliminary results show that Leonard Blum, of Gurnee, died as a result of injuries he sustained in the crash that took place at about 2:15 p.m. Saturday near the intersection of Stearns School and Fuller roads, Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said.
The Gurnee Police Department responded to a vehicle crash involving a car that struck a traffic pole on Stearns School Road near Fuller Road around 2:15 p.m. Saturday.
A preliminary investigation showed an 88-year-old Gurnee woman was driving a Toyota Rav4 southbound on Route 41 with Blum in the passenger seat when she tried to make a right turn onto westbound Stearns School Road.
A Kia Forte, driven by a 20-year-old Richmond woman, was simultaneously attempting to make a left turn onto westbound Stearns School Road from northbound Route 41 when the vehicles collided after the traffic light turned from green, to yellow, to red.
Authorities said the driver of the Toyota pressed the accelerator instead of the brake after the collision with the Kia, causing the Rav4 to accelerate to a high speed and strike a utility pole.Â
Both Blum and the 88-year-old Rav4 driver were transported to an area hospital with critical, life-threatening injuries. Blum died at the hospital later that evening.
The 20-year-old driver of the Kia was uninjured, authorities said.
The crash remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Team.