Local News

Wonder Lake woman dies after Thursday crash in McHenry

19-year-old cited with disobeying red light, operating uninsured vehicle

A 52-year-old Wonder Lake woman died at a Libertyville hospital after a two-vehicle crash Thursday evening that also sent two others to the hospital, McHenry police said.

The crash took place about 4:05 p.m. Thursday at the intersection of Elm Street, which also is Route 120, and Curran Road, the McHenry Police Department said in a news release Thursday.

A preliminary investigation determined that the woman was a passenger in a black 2006 Ford Crown Victoria east on Elm Street at Curran Road when the driver of the Ford disobeyed a red light and continued into the intersection, where a gray 2012 Hyundai Veloster that was attempting a left turn to travel south on Curran Road, according to the release.

The collision caused the Ford to exit the roadway and rest upright in a drainage ditch on the southeast corner of the intersection, according to the release.

The driver of the Ford – Emmet J. Zywiec, 19, also of Wonder Lake – was issued two tickets after the crash, one for disobeying a traffic control signal and the other for operating an uninsured vehicle, according to a news release Friday.

Zywiec, who did not report any injuries at the scene, was released at the scene with a court date of July 26. There were no indications that drugs or alcohol played a factor in the crash, according to the release.

It took firefighters about 15 minutes to extricate the Ford’s passenger from the vehicle, according to the release. She then was flown by LifeNet McHenry to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where she later died, according to the release.

The name of the woman who died was not released Friday to give her family time to make their personal notifications, McHenry police said. An autopsy by the Lake County Coroner’s Office determined the preliminary cause of death to be multiple blunt force traumas consistent with a motor vehicle crash.

Four people were in in the Hyundai, two of whom did not report any injuries at the scene and two of whom were taken to Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

The crash remains under investigation, McHenry police said. Anyone with information can contact the McHenry Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division at 815-363-2599. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call the McHenry Police Department’s tip line at 815-363-2124.

The intersection was partially closed for about an hour, according to the release.