Monday, March 18, 2024

Eight vehicle crash injures several, unnknown good Samaritans save lives

An eight vehicle, semi involved personal injury traffic crash occurred on Friday, Aug. 4 at 12:08 p.m.

The accident took place on Interstate 24 in the west bound lane at mile post 1.5 in Johnson County.

All involved vehicles, excluding a Peterbilt, driven by Nathan Fast, 37, of Byron, Minnesota, has either come to a stop or were traveling very slowly due to the construction related traffic back up.

According to Illinois State Police District 13, Fast said he thought he fell asleep.

The Peterbilt struck the rear end of a Corolla, driven by Brant Francis, 21, of Paris, Missouri.

A chain reaction crash following where the six other vehicles were included.

As a result of the crash, the Peterbilt, a GMC driven by Lawrence Sutton, 38, of Jackson, South Carolina, and a 4Runner, driven by Mark Riley, 61, of West Paducah, Kentucky, caught fire and were a total loss.

The fire spread to the tree line adjacent to the interstate, but was quickly contained by Lake of Egypt Fire Department.

Barbara Francis, 52, of Paris Missouri and passenger of the Corolla, had to be extricated from the vehicle after a team of good Samaritans had pushed it away from the burning vehicles.

The unnamed good Samaritans had also pulled all occupants of the burning vehicles from the wreckage, saving their lives.

All involved vehicles, except for a Tundra, driven by Yvonne Gentry, 53, of Hazelgreen, Alabama, had to be towed from the scene due to damage,

I24 east bound was closed for approximately one hour to land the medical helicopter and movement of emergency vehicles.

I24 west bound was closed for approximately five hours for crash investigation and scene clean up.

Twelve people were reported to have minor injuries, including four children between the ages of 6 and 11.

Barbara Francis was flown from the scene to a regional hospital via medical helicopter for major, non-life threatening injuries.

Peter Karmar, 57, of Sweetwater, Tennessee, who was a passenger of the GMC, was transported via ambulance to a local hospital and subsequently flown to a regional hospital for major injuries.

Fast was charged with failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash and driving while fatigued.