Two killed in I-94 crash near Deerfield identified
Lake County authorities on Sunday identified a Chicago woman and Bronx, New York man as the two people killed last week in a three-vehicle crash on the Tri-State Tollway near Deerfield.
Roberta Harris, 29, of Chicago, and Christopher Lopez, 28, of the Bronx, died as a result of blunt-force injuries suffered in the crash at 10:26 a.m. April 21, Coroner Howard Cooper reported. Toxicology results are pending, he said.
Illinois State Police said Lopez was driving a Jeep Cherokee south on I-94 just south of Route 22 when it struck the side of a semitrailer truck, spun and hit a second truck. Both Lopez and Harris, his front-seat passenger, were pronounced dead on the scene.
Another passenger in the Jeep was hospitalized with serious injuries, authorities said. The men driving the two semitrailer trucks were taken to Highland Park Hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, officials said.
Southbound lanes were blocked for more than four hours because of the crash, police said. Northbound lanes were temporarily blocked also, while a medical helicopter landed on the other side of the highway to pick up a patient.
The crash remains under investigation by state police and the coroner's office, Cooper said.