Police: Woman drives off after crash, dies minutes later in second crash
A 70-year-old Wadsworth woman died after being involved in two separate auto crashes in Gurnee Monday night.
According to a news release issued by Gurnee police Tuesday, the woman, who has not yet been identified, was driving a Mitsubishi SUV and rear-ended a Nissan near the intersection of Fuller Road and Stearns School Road on the near-northeast side of Gurnee at about 7:20 p.m.
The woman drove off after the hit-and-run crash, got on U.S. 41 and headed south, said Gurnee police officer Shawn Gaylor. As the driver approached the intersection of U.S. 41 and U.S. 21 - about a half-mile away from the site of the first crash - the woman drove around traffic and entered the intersection, Gaylor said.
Almost immediately, the woman crashed into a semi-truck. The man driving the semi-truck was turning left from U.S. 21 onto northbound U.S. 41, according to a news release.
The woman was pronounced dead at a hospital Monday night. The semi-truck driver suffered injuries described as non-life-threatening and was taken to a nearby hospital, as was the driver in the hit-and-run, according to police. That driver suffered minor injuries.
Lake County Coroner Dr. Howard Cooper said his office performed an autopsy on the woman on Tuesday and will release the woman's name and cause of death Wednesday.
Gaylor said the crash shut down traffic on U.S. 41 from 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.