An 11-year-old boy, who was a travel baseball player and remembered as “always being full of joy,” has been identified after he was left dead in a T-bone crash near Marengo.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office and Marengo Fire and Rescue Districts responded around 6:41 p.m. Monday to the area of Kishwaukee Valley Road and Deerpass Road in unincorporated Marengo for a vehicle crash with injuries.
The Woodstock Fire/Rescue Districts, Mercyhealth MD-1 and Huntley Fire Protection District were also called to assist.
Marengo Fire and Rescue Districts Public Information Officer Alex Vucha said firefighters arrived to find a two-vehicle crash with heavy damage.
A preliminary investigation showed that a 2016 Ford Transit Van, driven by an 18-year-old Huntley man, was traveling northbound on Deerpass Road, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Ford was approaching the intersection with Kishwaukee Valley Road, which has a stop sign.
A 2012 Audi Q5, driven by a 29-year-old Wonder Lake man, was traveling eastbound on Kishwaukee Valley Road and did not have a stop sign.
The driver of the Ford failed to yield at the stop sign for unknown reasons, the sheriff’s office said.
A T-bone collision occurred between the Audi and Ford, resulting in the Audi striking a tree on the north side of the roadway.
A medical helicopter was called to the scene for Alan Kroll, 11, of Wonder Lake, who was a passenger in the Audi and suffered critical injuries.
Vucha said Kroll was trapped in the vehicle and the fire department had to extricate him.
Kroll was transported by ambulance, with the MD-1 physician and helicopter crew on board, to Javon Bea Hospital — Riverside in Rockford.
“At the time of transport, the patient was in critical condition and receiving every possible means of medical attention,” Vucha said.
The sheriff’s office said Kroll later died after being transported to the hospital.
The Winnebago County Coroner’s Office said Kroll’s cause of death was blunt trauma to the head due to the crash. He died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
The driver of the Ford was transported by ambulance to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in Woodstock with minor injuries.
The driver of the Audi was transported to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in Huntley with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Airbags deployed in both vehicles and the driver and passenger in the Audi were wearing their seat belts, the sheriff’s office said. The driver of the Ford was not wearing his seat belt.
Alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the crash and the circumstances of the crash are under investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Major Traffic Crash Investigation Unit and the Winnebago County Coroner’s Office.
McHenry Mayor Wayne Jett asked the community to pray for Kroll’s family and said the boy was “always full of joy.”
McHenry Cobras Travel Baseball said Kroll was one of their athletes on the 12U team.
“We are devastated by the tragic loss of one of our athletes. Please keep our 12U team, their families, and all of us in the Cobras family in your thoughts and prayers,” the team said.
The Cobras played Wednesday evening in McHenry and won 14-2.
Flowers were laid in the center field and the team did not play a center fielder in memory of Kroll.