Joliet man suffers burns after I-355 crash
A 50-year-old Joliet man suffered serious burns after his SUV caught fire following a crash on I-355 in Woodridge.
The crash involving three SUVs occurred around 3:20 p.m. Wednesday in the right-hand lane near the 63rd Street overpass.
Illinois State Police Sgt. Robert Meeder said the crash started when a 42-year-old man from Bolingbrook driving a 2006 Toyota Tacoma rear-ended the Joliet man's 1994 Suzuki Samurai. The Samurai rear-ended a 2003 Acura MDX driven by a 47-year-old woman from Northbrook.
Police declined to identify any of the people involved in the accident.
The collision punctured the Samurai's gas tank and it quickly caught fire, Meeder said. The driver's clothes caught fire as well, but another driver stopped with a fire extinguisher and doused the injured man, sparing him from further injury.
All the drivers were transported to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. The burned driver was later airlifted to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood. His condition is unknown. Meeder said he suffered "significant" burns to his chest.
The Bolingbrook man and the Northbrook woman and three youngsters in her vehicle were all treated and released.
The driver from Bolingbrook was cited for driving too fast for conditions, but the crash remains under investigation, Meeder said.