Two dead, six injured in three-vehicle traffic crash near Genoa Monday

Genoa – Two people are dead after a crash involving three pick-up trucks on Illinois Route 23, north of Ellen Drive, near Genoa just before 8 a.m. Monday, according to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.

At 7:57 a.m. the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office responded to the multi-vehicle crash south of Genoa, and identified eight patients from the three vehicles involved, according to a news release. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, another was treated and released and five other people were taken to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb, authorities said.

According to the sheriff’s office, the crash occurred when a 2018 Chevy Silverado driven by a Genoa man was traveling south on Illinois Route 23 and “crossed over the center line,” the release states. The Silverado collided head-on with a 2001 Ford F250 driven by a DeKalb man. There were five passengers.

The Silverado driver was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, according to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.

A Rockford man driving a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 hit the Ford F250 while trying to avoid the crash, sheriff’s deputies said. That man was treated and released on the scene of the crash.

Three of the five passengers riding in the Ford F250 were taken to Kishwaukee Hospital for treatment. The two other passengers of the Ford F250, who have yet to be named, were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities are withholding the crash victims’ identification until family or next of kin can be reached.

More than half a dozen northern Illinois fire departments, including Genoa-Kingston, Sycamore, Hampshire, Kirkland, DeKalb, Maple Park, Belvidere and Burlington, assisted in the emergency response, according to the sheriff’s office.

A Facebook post by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office just after 8 a.m. asked motorists to “avoid the area.”

A 1.2-mile stretch of Illinois Route 23 — from Base Line to Lloyd roads — was closed until 11:50 a.m., almost four hours, according the sheriff’s office.

Charges are pending, and the crash remains under investigation, the sheriff’s office said.

DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office officials did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment.