Lake County, IL : 2 dead, 5 injured after pickup truck hits motorcyclists in Fox Lake on Saturday afternoon, July 16, 2016

The driver of a pickup truck and a motorcyclist were dead and five people injured in Fox Lake after the pickup crossed into oncoming traffic, hitting several motorcyclists Saturday afternoon, officials said.

The crash happened at 3:10 p.m. on State Park Road about a quarter-mile north of U.S. Hwy. 12, Fox Lake Police Chief Russell Laine said. The driver of the pickup that hit several motorcyclists died after the crash, said Laine and Lake County Deputy Coroner Orlando Portillo.

On Sunday morning, Portillo identified the pickup driver as Charles Kleffner, 60, of Spring Grove.

The motorcyclist who died in the crash was identified as Matthew Stautz, 43, of Rothschild, Wis., according to a news release from Dr. Anne Majewski, the McHenry County coroner.

Laine said the pickup was headed south while the coroner's statement said the motorcyclist, Stautz, was traveling north on State Park Road with the group of motorcyclists when his bike was struck by the pickup truck, which authorities said veered into the bikers. The pickup hit at least two motorcyclists, apparently causing another motorcyclist with a passenger to lay down his bike — put the bike on its side — to try to avoid a collision, Laine said. Stautz was transferred to Centegra Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry and was pronounced dead at 4:47 p.m. Saturday. His autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

The pickup driver was declared dead at the scene, Portillo said, adding that his truck caught fire after the crash. Six injured people, including the motorcyclist who died, were taken to either Northern Illinois Medical Center or Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Laine said.

A number of passersby stopped to help pull people away from the crash and "very heroically were able to keep people from being injured further," Laine said.

The Fox Lake Police Department requested the assistance of the Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team, which conducted preliminary accident reconstruction work at the scene Saturday, Laine said.

Results of the investigation will take some time, Laine said, adding that accident reconstruction has to be completed and the data analyzed before any conclusions will be released.

Laine also noted that information from Kleffner's autopsy on Monday may be limited because results of toxicology testing usually take several days or weeks to release.

Source :
2 dead, 5 injured after pickup truck hits motorcyclists in Fox Lake