Speeding shoplifting getaway car causes multi-vehicle crash in Mettawa, police say
METTAWA, Ill. (CBS) -- Several people were hurt Monday in a multi-vehicle crash in far north suburban Mettawa.
At 3:45 p.m., Lake County Sheriff's police were called for a three-vehicle crash at Route 60, or Townline Road, and St. Mary's Road. Police said it all started when a group of people drove off in a 2018 Kia Optima after stealing from a store in Vernon Hills.
The Kia was speeding recklessly eastward along Route 60, police said.
As the Kia pulled up to St. Mary's Road, the traffic light was red for Route 60. The driver of the Kia ran a red light and was hit by a southbound 2012 GMC Sierra, police said.
The Kia then left the roadway and crashed into a wooden fence.
Meanwhile, the GMC Sierra hit a Toyota 4-Runner, which had been facing north on St. Mary's Road in the turn late to turn left on Route 60.
The driver of the GMC, a 34-year-old Round Lake Beach man, was taken to Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Toyota - a 60-year-old Watervliet, Michigan man, and his passenger – a 23-year-old Riverwoods man, were not injured.
The driver of the Kia and the back-seat passenger suffered non-life-threatening injuries. But a front-seat passenger in the Kia was impaled by a wooden fence post and suffered critical, life-threatening injuries.
Everyone in the Kia was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville.
The crash remained under investigation late Monday.