BLOOMINGTON (MCT) — The death of a 20-year-old Bloomington man killed last month in a pickup truck rollover near Danvers has been ruled a homicide.
Nicholas J. Kauffman was pronounced dead at 3:10 a.m. Feb. 15 at the scene along Illinois 9 near McLean County Road 475 East, McLean County Coroner Beth Kimmerling said.
Final autopsy results indicate Kauffman, a rear-seat passenger in the truck, died of “compressional asphyxia” at the scene, Kimmerling said Tuesday in announcing her ruling on the manner of his death. There will be no inquest, she said.
“Nicholas had no fatal trauma as a result of the crash,” Kimmerling said via email. “He died as a result of being pinned beneath the truck and unable to breathe.”
The driver, Radley Monson, 19, of Bloomington, previously was charged with aggravated driving under the influence with an accident involving a fatality, a Class 2 felony.
A McLean County sheriff’s deputy found the pickup truck about 1 a.m. on its roof in a field about 75 to 100 yards from the road. Illinois State Police determined the truck was eastbound on Illinois 9 when the driver lost control on a curve and went airborne into a field, Kimmerling said.
Monson, and the two other passengers, Alec M. Marciniak, 19, and Maxwell B. Ringer, 21, both of Bloomington, were injured in the accident.