Driver seriously injured in crash with semitruck near Harvard

A man was flown to a hospital with serious injuries after being pinned inside his car in a crash involving a semitruck Sunday afternoon near Harvard, officials reported.

The Harvard Fire Protection District responded to a call at 2:37 p.m. Sunday to the intersection of Route 173 and Crowley Road for a reported crash with entrapment. According to initial reports, an SUV collided with a semitruck, and man driving the SUV was “pinned inside the vehicle,” Harvard Fire Protection District public information officer Alex Vucha said in a news release.

First responders arrived to the two-vehicle crash to find “moderate to heavy damage,” Vucha said in the release.

The impact sent the SUV into a wooded area, where firefighters worked to free the driver and requested additional help, including a medical helicopter, a Mercyhealth MD-1 emergency response vehicle and an engine from the Hebron-Alden-Greenwood Fire Protection District, Vucha said.

The driver was freed in less than 10 minutes and flown to Javon Bea Hospital-Riverside in Rockford with serious injuries. The female driver of the semitruck reported no injuries, Vucha said.

The road was closed to traffic in both directions for about two hours while emergency crews worked at the scene. The crash currently is under investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, Vucha said.