Leesburg Trucker Charged in Fatal Illinois Accident
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Staff Report-
ELWOOD, Ill. – A Leesburg man was arrested after being involved in a traffic accident that killed four people and injured four others Monday in Illinois. According to Chicago NBC Channel 5 Tuesday, Illinois State Police say a speeding truck entering stalled traffic in a construction zone caused a chain-reaction crash on Interstate 55 that killed four people and injured four others. A fifth person was killed in a second crash about three miles away. Eyewitnesses told police a truck driver entered the construction zone at a high rate of speed in the northbound lanes of I-55 near Arsenal Road, in Elwood, Ill., at about 2:30 p.m. Monday. The tractor trailer slammed into a car and caused a chain reaction crash involving three vehicles and another tractor-trailer, Channel 5 reported. Kimberly K. Britton, 43, and Piper Britton, 11, both from Urbana, were killed. Also killed were Vicky L. Palacios, 54, of Coal City, and Ulrike P. Blopleh, 48, of Channahon. Four other people were injured in the crash, including some who needed to be extricated from their vehicles. One of the victims was airlifted to a local hospital. According to the Chicago Tribune, some of the vehicles involved were crushed beyond recognition. The three vehicles were stopped in traffic, less than a mile to the south of where the interstate’s two lanes merge into one in a construction zone. The truck was passing vehicles in the left lane and abruptly made a lane change, striking the rear of one of the vehicles, the Tribune reported. The truck driver, 51-year-old Francisco Espinal Quiroz, Leesburg, was arrested and charged with falsifying a log book and willful violation of a log book. He was also cited for failing to reduce speed. He was ordered held in lieu of $1 million bond during a hearing in Will County Circuit Court. The Chicago Tribune also reported he was driving for Leesburg-based Espinal Trucking. Federal records indicate that the company is a one-truck, one-driver operation owned by Espinal-Quiroz, the Chicago Tribune reported. The company has no history of crashes, and the carrier has been subjected to just one driver inspection and has no federal safety rating. Police said he underwent mandatory drug and urine testing as part of the initial investigation. The investigation into Quiroz’s actions are ongoing, and other charges, including reckless homicide, are possible, Assistant State’s Attorney James Long told the Associated Press. Investigators have evidence that Quiroz violated rules on working hours and entered incorrect start times in his logbook, said Illinois State Police spokeswoman Monique Bond, according to the AP. Quiroz was driving at least 15 mph faster than the posted construction zone speed limit at the time of the crash, prosecutors said during the hearing. They said there was no evidence he applied the brakes before the crash. Investigators determined Quiroz falsified his log books to show he had started driving at 6 a.m. Monday, when he’d actually started driving at 2:30 a.m., and had been on the road approximately 12 hours at the time of the crash, prosecutors said Tuesday. I-55 northbound was closed for several hours at River Road, but reopened around 8:15 p.m. Monday, the Chicago station reported. Minutes after the crash and about three miles to the north, another accident occurred in the southbound lanes of I-55 near U.S. 6, the first interchange a mile south of I-80. A tractor-trailer rear-ended another big rig, sending both drivers to local hospitals. One of the drivers, Deividas Mockus, 41, of Darien, was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet. The southbound lanes were closed for several hours, but reopened at about 5 p.m.
