Police: Driver under influence of cannabis in Mettawa crash where person was impaled

Additional charges have been filed against the driver who officials say caused a three-vehicle crash in Mettawa that impaled a passenger in her car with a wooden fence post in March.

Jariah Terrell, 24, of Chicago is charged with three counts related to driving while under the influence of drugs, officials said Wednesday.

Lake County sheriff's Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said investigators determined Terrell was under the influence of cannabis at the time of the crash, which happened about 3:45 p.m. on March 6.

Terrell, who was driving a Kia sedan headed east on Route 60, blew through a red light at the intersection with Saint Marys Road and was struck by a southbound GMC pickup truck, officials said.

The impact sent the Kia into a wooden fence, and the pickup truck then collided with a Toyota SUV that was waiting to turn left onto westbound Route 60, officials said.

The woman in the front passenger seat was impaled by a portion of the fence and suffered life-threatening injuries. Sheriff's deputies and police from Vernon Hills used an automated defibrillator on the victim until paramedics arrived to take the patient to Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, officials said.

Covelli said the front-seat passenger was fortunate she was not killed in the crash and was discharged from the hospital on March 13.

Officials said Terrell was speeding recklessly because she and her two passengers had just been part of a retail theft and investigators recovered stolen merchandise from the Kia.

Days after the crash, Terrell was charged with retail theft. Kaniyah A. Williams, 25, of Chicago, who was the passenger in the back seat of Terrell's car, also was charged with retail theft in March.

Officials have not released the name of the woman who was impaled in the crash.