Motorist badly hurt after separate crashes in Lake County: police

A Spring Grove man remained hospitalized in critical condition Saturday after striking two vehicles and a traffic pole with his truck in northwestern Lake County the day before.

The crashes occurred moments apart at about 5:20 p.m. Friday along Route 59.

The first two collisions happened at Wilson Road in the Ingleside area. The man, who was driving a 2001 Ford F250 pickup truck and whose name wasn't released, rear-ended a 2017 Dodge Caravan and then sideswiped a 2017 GMC Acadia, Lake County sheriff's Deputy Chief Chris Covelli said.

Neither the 43-year-old Antioch-area woman driving the Caravan nor the 60-year-old Spring Grove man driving the Acadia was injured. One of the motorists reported the pickup truck was being driven recklessly before the crash, Covelli said.

The pickup truck then hit a traffic light pole at Monaville Road near Lake Villa, police said. That's about a quarter mile north of the first crash.

The pavement was wet and the driver likely lost control of the truck while trying to pass another car, Covelli said.

The driver, who wasn't wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the vehicle by the force of the crash, police said.

The man was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville with life-threatening injuries.

Authorities believe the motorist may have been speeding away from the first crash when the second occurred.

The crashes remain under investigation by sheriff's police.