The sheriff said in an update Thursday that a 15-year-old boy is alive but in serious condition and was the at-fault driver in an electric bicycle crash with a car outside a school near Crystal Lake.
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 2017 Ford C-Max car and a Super73 Class II electric bicycle.
A preliminary investigation showed that the electric bicycle was traveling westbound near Dvorak Drive.
The Ford was traveling northbound on Walkup Road when the bicycle failed to yield to the vehicle for unknown reasons, the sheriff’s office said.
The collision occurred as the electric bike rider was crossing the roadway. Sheriff’s officials did not say whether the bike was in the crosswalk or not.
Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department Battalion Chief Jim Sustek said fire crews arrived in four minutes and found the injured e-bike rider in the roadway.
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 15-year-old boy, was transported by ambulance to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry.
Police radio traffic indicated the child was initially unconscious and not breathing at the scene.
Paramedics requested a medical helicopter to respond to the scene due to the severity of the injuries but the closest helicopter was 30 minutes away, Sustek and emergency radio traffic said.
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, sheriff’s officials said.
Sustek said the victim suffered life-threatening injuries and was in critical condition at the time of transport.
The sheriff’s office said in an update Thursday that the child remained in serious condition at the hospital.
The driver of the Ford, a 66-year-old Crystal Lake woman, was uninjured is fully cooperating with the investigation.
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 was reopened around 4:30 p.m. following the investigation.
The sheriff’s office has not said whether any citations or charges would be issued but said the incident remains under active investigation by the Major Crash Investigation Unit.