No citations coming in crash that killed 3 teens
State police say their investigation found no evidence that alcohol, drugs or cellphone use contributed to the crash that killed three area teens Monday on a rural road in unincorporated Kendall County.
Brian Herrera and Tyler Montgomery, both 19 of Plainfield, and Alexis Banuelos, 18, of Naperville, were killed after a semitrailer truck slammed into their black sedan around 3:15 p.m.
Authorities said the teens were driving south on Schlapp Road at the intersection of Route 126 at the time of the crash. With Herrera at the wheel, all three were killed after their car either failed to halt completely at a stop sign on Schlapp, or stopped and then rolled forward without Herrera being aware of other traffic.
State police said Herrera may simply have been distracted while talking with his friends, or may have tried to beat the truck through the intersection.
As they entered the intersection, police said an eastbound truck driver — who did not have a stop sign on his two-lane stretch of Route 126 — hit the side of their car.
The truck driver told troopers he had no time to stop, and a witness supported his statement, police said. The truck, which was hauling bags of sand, crushed the sedan and then flipped on its side.
Montgomery and Herrera both were pronounced dead at the scene, state police said. Banuelos was taken to Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, where she died.
The truck driver, a man in his mid-40s from Hodgkins, was taken to a nearby hospital with nonlife threatening injuries, police said. They said he will not be cited in the crash.
The crash happened about seven miles south of Oswego and seven miles west of Plainfield, and a stretch of the roadway remained closed for more than seven hours Monday. On Tuesday, friends and family returned to the site to mourn the teens.