Cyclist killed by careening truck in Arlington Heights

A bicyclist died Thursday after she was struck by a careening landscaping truck that had collided with another vehicle Thursday at the intersection of Lake-Cook and Wilke roads in Arlington Heights.

The crash occurred about 7:20 a.m. The Cook County medical examiner's evening ledger indicated Sylwia Wagner Jarosz, 45, of Arlington Heights died at 12:58 p.m. at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.

Lake-Cook Road was closed between Route 53 and Wilke Road for nearly 10 hours as investigators worked to determine what caused the crash that also injured one of the drivers.

Arlington Heights police said Wagner Jarosz was at the southeast corner of the intersection waiting to cross the street when the crash occurred.

Police said the landscaping truck's bed was filled with soil and it was towing an open-top trailer carrying wood planks. The 2011 Ford F550 pickup was headed east on Lake-Cook Road when it collided with a white 2019 Chevrolet Equinox SUV attempting to turn left onto Wilke Road from westbound Lake-Cook Road.

The force of the impact caused the landscaping truck to skid onto the parkway at the southeast corner of the intersection, where Wagner Jarosz was standing.

The truck dumped much of the soil it was hauling, and the trailer struck a nearby traffic light post.

The unidentified female driver of the SUV was taken to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights with minor injuries. The two men inside the landscaping truck were uninjured, police said.

Police officials said there are conflicting reports about the status of the traffic lights at the time of the crash from witnesses and those involved in the crash. Investigators are also trying to determine the speeds of the vehicles.

No citations have been issued yet.

• Daily Herald correspondent Griffin Krueger contributed to this report.