A man and a woman were seriously injured after a car slammed into two vehicles stopped on the shoulder along Interstate 94 near Gurnee, causing one victim to get pinned against the wall.
The Gurnee Fire Department, Libertyville Fire Department and Illinois State Police responded around 11:38 a.m. Saturday to the area of Interstate 94 north of Route 120 on the border of Gurnee and Waukegan for a vehicle crash with injuries.
Gurnee Fire Department Lt. Tony Roberts said the crash happened near the 11 milepost on the inside shoulder.
911 callers advised that one person was trapped and another victim was lying on the roadway after they were hit by a vehicle.
Fire crews arrived and found a man in his early 70s pinned against the Jersey barrier and a car, Roberts said.
Another victim was on the ground but both victims were conscious and breathing.
Paramedics transported the male victim, along with a woman in her 20s and a woman in her 60s, to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. A fourth person involved declined transport.
Roberts said the man and the younger woman suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The older woman did not suffer any obvious injuries but was taken for a checkup.
Roberts said it appeared that a car ran out of gas and another car arrived to help put gas in the first car.
The two stopped vehicles were rear-ended by the third vehicle and the male victim and the younger woman were both standing outside of the car when the collision happened.
Fire crews shut down two westbound lanes on Interstate 94 and one eastbound lane for scene safety, Roberts said.
The Illinois State Police called crash investigators to the scene due to the seriousness of the incident.
The one eastbound lane was reopened quickly but the westbound lanes were not reopened for several hours until around 4 p.m.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Illinois State Police.