The coroner says a 19-year-old man has died in the hospital after he was found unresponsive with critical injuries following a motorcycle crash near Marengo Saturday afternoon.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office and Marengo Fire & Rescue Districts responded around 3:24 p.m. Saturday to the area of County Line Road and Harmony Road in unincorporated Marengo for a report of a motorcycle crash.
Marengo Fire & Rescue Districts Public Information Officer Alex Vucha said crews arrived to find a motorcycle in the ditch.
Bystander CPR was already being administered to an adult male victim.
McHenry County Chief Deputy Coroner Olivia Zednick identified the victim on Tuesday as Brandon Klaassens, 19, of Marengo.
Vucha said paramedics took over lifesaving efforts and determined Klaassens had suffered critical, life-threatening injuries.
A LifeNet medical helicopter was requested to the scene and the helicopter landed in a nearby field.
A decision was made to transport Klaassens by ambulance to a local hospital due to the severity of his injuries, Vucha said.
Zednick told Lake and McHenry County Scanner on Tuesday that Klaassens died in the emergency room after arriving at Northwestern Medicine Hospital in Huntley.
An autopsy performed Monday showed he died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the cause of the crash but has not yet released any details on the incident.
The vehicle crash was the second crash that the Marengo Fire and Rescue Districts was dispatched to within a minute apart.
The second crash occurred at Kishwaukee Valley Road and Olcott Road in unincorporated Marengo and involved two vehicles with moderate to heavy damage reported.
Six occupants were in the vehicles but no injuries were reported.