St. Charles man charged with deliberately crashing into car

Geneva police announced Monday they have charged a St. Charles man with intentionally causing a head-on automobile crash that injured himself and another driver earlier this month.

George H. Smith, 80, of the 1000 block of North Fifth Avenue, has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery with great bodily harm, both Class 3 felonies. Geneva police arrested him Monday at Provena Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, and he is due to appear in bond court Tuesday.

The crash happened at about 6 p.m. Aug. 6 at State Street and Maple Lane. Smith's vehicle, a Saturn Vue, had crossed into the westbound lanes and hit a Volvo S70 driven by a 46-year-old Geneva man. That two then hit an Acura MDX driven by a 51-year-old St. Charles man.

The identities of the other drivers are not being released, unlike what normally happens with traffic accident reports, because the incident is no longer being investigated as a traffic accident but as a crime.

After the crash, Smith was treated at Delnor Hospital in Geneva. The Geneva man was flown to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, where he was treated for broken vertebrae, broken legs, a shattered hip and bleeding on the brain, according to Geneva police. The St. Charles man did not require hospitalization.

Neither Geneva police nor the Kane County state's attorney's office could be reached for comment regarding Smith's intent.