Three people — an 18-year-old driver, an 18-year-old passenger and a 9-month-old child — were taken to hospital on Friday afternoon, November 13, after a Toyota Camry travelling at a high rate of speed left Swanson Road in Crystal Lake, Illinois, and struck a utility pole and a tree, according to the Crystal Lake Police Department.

Source: Crystal Lake Police Department release via McHenry County Blog

Police said they were called at approximately 3:22 p.m. to a report of a single-vehicle crash with injuries on Swanson Road, between Alexandra Boulevard and Ackman Road. The department's preliminary investigation indicates the Camry was travelling northbound on Swanson Road from Miller Road at a high rate of speed when it left the roadway and hit the pole and the tree.

The driver, identified by police as Lucas C. Remley, 18, of Lakewood, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital, according to the police release and reporting by Rockford News First. Remley has been charged with failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash and improper lane usage, police said. The charges are allegations and the case remains under investigation.

One passenger, an 18-year-old female, was transported to a local hospital before being airlifted to a trauma center for further treatment, police said. A second passenger, a 9-month-old child, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was also transported to a local hospital. Police have not released the passengers' names.

A portion of Swanson Road was closed for approximately five hours while emergency personnel worked at the scene, the police department said, affecting the Friday afternoon commute through the residential neighbourhoods around Alexandra Boulevard and Ackman Road before the road reopened in the evening.

What the charges mean

Failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash and improper lane usage are Illinois traffic charges that, in a case like this, follow directly from the police account of what happened: investigators say the Camry was travelling at a high rate of speed, left its lane and the roadway, and struck fixed objects. Police have not alleged that alcohol or drugs were involved, and they have not announced any further charges. Because the investigation is still open, additional findings — including the vehicle's speed and any mechanical or road factors — have not yet been released.

Crystal Lake is a city of McHenry County in Chicago's northwest suburbs, and Swanson Road is a local residential route linking the Alexandra Boulevard and Ackman Road neighbourhoods. A five-hour closure of even a local road on a Friday afternoon is a significant disruption for residents, school traffic and commuters in that part of the city, and neighbours near the crash scene were among those police are asking to come forward with information.

What happens next

The crash remains under investigation by the Crystal Lake Police Department, and the department has not said when its final findings will be released. The driver, Lucas C. Remley, will have to answer the two traffic charges through the McHenry County court process; any decision on further charges would follow the completed investigation. The conditions of the passenger who was airlifted to a trauma center and of the 9-month-old child had not been updated by police in their initial release. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when police release further findings.

For readers in Illinois — including the state's large Punjabi community in the Chicago area — the case is a reminder police repeat after serious suburban crashes involving young drivers: speed on local residential roads, not only on highways, is what turns a loss of control into a collision with a pole or a tree, and it is the factor investigators identified first in this crash.