A male victim was flown to the hospital with apparent serious injuries after a car crashed into a tree in a subdivision in Crystal Lake early Friday morning, fire officials said.
The Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department and Crystal Lake Police Department responded around 1 a.m. Friday to the area of Surrey Lane and Abbington Drive in Crystal Lake for a report of a vehicle crash with injuries.
Police officers arrived first and found that a male victim was trapped in the vehicle and the car was smoking.
Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department Battalion Chief Jim Sustek said the incident was upgraded due to the report of entrapment. A medical helicopter was placed on standby.
Fire crews arrived on the scene in five minutes and found a single-vehicle crash with an occupant trapped inside the vehicle, Sustek said.
A LifeNet medical helicopter was requested due to the extent of the victim’s injuries after the vehicle crashed into a tree.
Firefighters worked for approximately 15 minutes to safely extricate the victim, Sustek said.
The medical helicopter was called to Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital.
Sustek said an ambulance transported the victim to the hospital’s helipad where they met with the helicopter and transferred the patient to the flight crew.
The LifeNet helicopter flew the victim to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, which is a Level 1 trauma center.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Crystal Lake Police Department, which has not released information yet on the incident.