A driver is in critical condition and two other drivers were seriously injured after a five-vehicle crash involving a school bus that shut down Sheridan Road in Beach Park Tuesday morning.
The Beach Park Fire Department, Zion Fire Rescue Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded around 8 a.m. Tuesday to the area of Sheridan Road and Michigan Boulevard in Beach Park for a vehicle crash with injuries.
A preliminary investigation shows a GMC Acadia, driven by a 74-year-old Zion man, was traveling northbound on Sheridan Road, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.
The GMC struck the stop arm of a loading school bus while it was stopped in the northbound lanes near Mawman Avenue for unknown reasons.
Nobody was injured on the bus, which was occupied by two children and the driver, Covelli said.
The children who were boarding the bus were not struck or injured.
Covelli said the GMC continued northbound and sideswiped a northbound Ford Focus, driven by a 49-year-old Beach Park man.
The impact caused the Ford Focus to crash into a utility pole, causing it to break.
The GMC then struck a southbound Chevrolet Colorado, driven by a 39-year-old Winthrop Harbor man, and a southbound Ford Flex, driven by a 28-year-old Fox Lake woman.
The driver of the GMC was transported to an area hospital in critical condition, Covelli said.
The driver of the Ford Focus as well as the driver of the Chevrolet Colorado were transported to area hospitals with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Ford Flex was uninjured.
Covelli said it is possible the driver of the GMC suffered a medical episode prior to the crashes.
Sheridan Road was shut down between Chaplin Street and Wadsworth Road for several hours.
The crash remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Team.