Furniture falls off truck, causes three-vehicle pileup on Interstate 88
A loose piece of furniture caused a chain-reaction crash Saturday night on Interstate 88 near Naperville that sent three people to the hospital, including an 81-year-old motorcyclist who suffered life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
According to Illinois State Police, an unsecured piece of furniture fell off a 2017 GMC Sierra pickup truck traveling eastbound on I-88 near Mill Street.
The furniture landed in front of a 2011 Honda Accord, causing its driver, a 16-year-old St. Charles girl, to brake suddenly to avoid a collision, police said. A 2001 Ford Escape driven by a 23-year-old Winfield man then crashed into the rear end of the Honda.
The impact caused the Ford to veer into the lane to the left, where it struck a 2020 Yamaha motorcycle driven by an 81-year-old Elburn man, according to state police. The collision threw the man from the motorcycle.
State police said the left two lanes of eastbound I-88 were closed for several hours for an investigation, while the right two lanes remained open.
In addition to the motorcyclist, two passengers in the Honda, a 46-year-old St. Charles woman and a 19-year-old St. Charles man, were taken to a hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.
The driver of the Sierra, Brandon M. Whitehead of Aurora, was issued a citation for failure to properly secure load, police said.