‘Horrifying accident’: Teen boy flown to hospital after crash involving e-bike, car outside school near Crystal Lake

A teenage boy was flown to the hospital with apparent critical injuries after his electric bicycle was involved in a crash with a car outside of a school near Crystal Lake Wednesday afternoon.

The Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department, McHenry County Sheriff’s Office and Crystal Lake Police Department responded around 1 p.m. Wednesday to the area of Walkup Road and Dvorak Drive in unincorporated Crystal Lake.

Sheriff’s officials said the crash involved a car and an electric bike.

The incident occurred in front of Prairie Ridge High School, which was having Distribution Day where students receive their class schedule and textbooks and have their photo taken.

Sheriff’s officials said the electric bike rider, a juvenile, was transported by ambulance to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry in unknown condition.

Police radio traffic indicated the child was a teenage boy and was initially unconscious and not breathing at the scene.

Paramedics requested a medical helicopter to respond to the scene but the closest helicopter was 30 minutes away.

Paramedics instead ground-transported the child to the local hospital with extra firefighter-paramedics on board for patient care.

A Flight For Life helicopter responded and met the ambulance crew at the hospital’s helipad, according to fire department radio traffic.

The child was transferred to the flight crew, which flew the victim to Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

No injuries were reported to the occupants of the car involved, witnesses at the scene said.

Sheriff’s deputies shut down Walkup Road between Hillside Road and Pleasant Hill Road.

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Major Crash Investigation Unit responded to the scene and is conducting a crash investigation.

Bill Atella told Lake and McHenry County Scanner he witnessed the incident right in front of him and called it a “horrifying accident.”

Atella said the bike was on the other side of the street and the child was lying motionless in the middle of the street.

A woman told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that someone she knows witnessed the accident, stayed with the boy and called 911. She said it was not the female driver of the car’s fault.

The roadway remains shut down as of late Wednesday afternoon.