RINGWOOD – A group of McHenry County farmers sat down for a somber lunch Friday to mourn the death of their friend Thomas R. King, who was fatally struck by a motorcycle near his home Thursday night.
King, 66, of unincorporated McHenry, was a sharp-witted and big-hearted man who had farmed all his life, said Kevin Bauer, a neighboring farmer who was part of the lunch group that met daily at the Rusty Nail in Ringwood.
“All in all, he was just the best guy,” Kevin Bauer said. “What we're trying to do today is get all his farming in order. We'll get his crops in and we'll get them out. That's what's best for the family.”
King was struck about 8:40 p.m. Thursday in the 3900 block of Ringwood Road by a 2007 Harley Davidson motorcycle headed west on Ringwood Road, police said. McHenry County Coroner Anne Majewski said he was pronounced dead at the scene about 40 minutes later. He died of blunt force injuries to the chest, abdomen and pelvis, Majewski said.
McHenry Township Fire Protection District officials who responded to the 911 call for the crash transported the motorcycle driver, Michael Polanzi, 62, of McHenry, and the passenger, Krystal L. Hyde, 28, of McHenry, to McHenry Hospital-McHenry with injuries that were not life-threatening, officials said.
Police said they have not filed and citations stemming from the crash.
McHenry Township Battalion Chief David Harwood said the people on the motorcycle reported they believed they had struck a deer. After retracing the motorcycle's path, emergency responders found a deceased man lying on the side of the road, Harwood said.
“It looks like it was possible that the gentleman that was struck was in the area of his mailbox,” Harwood said. “We're assuming that he possibly could have been going to check his mail.”
King, a bachelor with no children, but family in the area, farmed corn and soybeans and raised pigs and steer on his farm in the 3900 block of Ringwood Road, Kevin Bauer said. Friends helped harvest his crop when he broke his ankle seven years ago, because it's something King would have done for them, friends said.
Chad Bauer, Kevin Bauer's son, recalled such a time in 2007 shortly after his grandpa died. King showed up at Chad Bauer's farm and offered to bale the hay for him.
“He said, 'You've got more important things to take care of.' He did that for me,” Chad Bauer said. “That's when I realized how great of a guy he was. He was an important part of the farming community.”