Medical event may have preceded in Fox Lake crash
A 60-year-old Spring Grove man whose pickup truck swerved into an oncoming group of motorcycles in Fox Lake on Saturday, resulting in a crash that killed himself and another man, appears to have suffered a medical event before the crash, the Lake County coroner's office said Monday.
Chief Deputy Coroner Orlando Portillo said the official cause of death for the pickup truck driver, Charles Kleffner, 60, of Spring Grove, is pending, but he suffered from an unspecified medical issue before the crash. Further investigation is needed and the coroner's office is awaiting toxicology results, Portillo added.
Police were called to the fiery crash about 3 p.m. Saturday along State Park Road about a quarter mile north of Route 12. Police said Kleffner's pickup veered into several motorcycles traveling north on State Park Road, then caught fire after the collision. Police credited witnesses for pulling some of the motorcyclists away from the wreckage.
One of the motorcyclists, Matthew Stautz of Rothschild, Wisconsin, died as a result of his injuries. Five others on motorcycles were hospitalized, some with critical injuries, according to police.
An autopsy for Kleffner was performed Monday and one is scheduled to be conducted by the McHenry County coroner's office for Stautz on Tuesday.
Major medical events are something that is taken into consideration in situations like this, Fox Lake Deputy Police Chief Jimmy Lee said, but there is nothing conclusive at this point in the investigation.
“That's obviously one of the things they're looking at as well. It's going to take awhile to get the report back on that,” Lee said.
Lee said he did not have updated information on the conditions of those who were injured in the crash. The accident remains under investigation by the Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team.