The community has raised over $230,000 for a family of four whose lives were “changed forever” after another driver caused a head-on crash that left them with severe injuries near Woodstock.
The Woodstock Fire/Rescue District and McHenry County Sheriff’s Office responded around 3:13 p.m. Sunday to the area of Route 14 and Dean Street for a report of a vehicle crash with injuries and entrapment.
Emergency crews were advised while en route of a multi-vehicle collision, with reports of one vehicle possibly on fire and multiple individuals trapped, according to Woodstock Fire/Rescue District Public Information Officer Alex Vucha.
The response was upgraded through the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) to the box alarm level, bringing additional resources from the McHenry County Emergency Management Agency and the Crystal Lake, Huntley, Marengo, Union and Wonder Lake fire departments to the scene.
Firefighters located a three-vehicle crash with two heavily damaged vehicles, a black SUV and a white SUV, in the middle of the roadway a quarter-mile west of Dean Street on Route 14, Vucha said.
The sheriff’s office said a preliminary investigation showed a 2018 Mercedes-Benz SUV was traveling eastbound on Route 14 while a white 2017 Toyota 4Runner was traveling westbound on Route 14.
The Mercedes-Benz, driven by Abuzar Zaidi, 33, of Elgin, attempted to pass a vehicle pulling a trailer in the no-passing zone before colliding head-on with the Toyota in the westbound lane, sheriff’s officials said.
A 2018 Jeep, traveling westbound behind the Toyota, struck the left rear of the Toyota while attempting to avoid the initial crash. The Jeep sustained minor damage and no one was injured in the vehicle.
Firefighters began triaging multiple victims and initiating extrication efforts, Vucha said. One of the vehicles was smoking but no active fire was reported.
Zaidi, who was not believed to be wearing his seatbelt, was ejected from the Mercedes-Benz and pronounced dead at the scene, according to the coroner’s office, the sheriff’s office and Vucha.
Three medical helicopters responded to the incident with one of them landing at the scene. The other two landed at helipads at Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital and Northwestern Medicine Woodstock Hospital.
A 6-year-old boy who was in the Mercedes-Benz and wearing his seatbelt suffered critical, life-threatening injuries. He was transported by medical helicopter to the hospital.
The driver of the Toyota, Quin Murphy, 43, of Cross Plains, Wisconsin, was transported to a local hospital with critical, life-threatening injuries, sheriff’s officials said.
Jennifer Murphy, 43, of Cross Plains, Wisconsin, who was a passenger in the Toyota, was transported with moderate, non-life-threatening injuries.
Two passengers in the Toyota, Georgia Murphy, 12, and Charlie Murphy, 13, were both flown to the hospital with critical, life-threatening injuries.
Investigators believe the Murphy family were all wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash and airbags deployed in both vehicles.
The sheriff’s office said the Mercedes-Benz is believed to have been involved in a crash on Route 14 near the intersection with Kishwaukee Valley Road just prior to the fatal crash.
“All events are part of an ongoing investigation by McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Major Traffic Crash Investigation Unit and the McHenry County Coroner’s Office,” sheriff’s officials said Wednesday.
Route 14 was shut down between Kishwaukee Valley Road and Dean Street until around 9 p.m. while the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office investigated the crash.
Stacia Aeschbach and Jessie Plotts, who are both organizing a GoFundMe account for the Murphy family, said the family of four were on their way home from a volleyball tournament in Chicago when the crash occurred.
The crash was “devasting” and changed their lives forever, the two said, adding that the four family members are physically separate in four different hospitals each fighting their own battle to heal from their severe injuries.
The family’s journey will require months of recovery, physical therapy, home modifications and extensive medical care. Both parents will be unable to work and the family is in need of financial support to cover their expenses for at least the next six months.
The GoFundMe account has raised over $237,000 as of Friday from 1,800 donors.