3-car crash in Sycamore leads to rush-hour closure of Peace Road

SYCAMORE – Peace Road was closed for more than an hour Thursday between Route 64 and Dekalb Avenue after a three-car, chain reaction crash that sent two people to the hospital, police said.

The incident happened about 7:15 a.m. Thursday, when a northbound Chevrolet Malibu rear-ended a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck that was stopped at a red light at Peace Road and Sarah Drive.

The impact pushed the pickup into the rear end of the vehicle in front of it, a 2015 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Jason N. Lupton, 37, of DeKalb, police said.

The driver of the Malibu, 24-year-old Samantha Schultz, was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash, Sycamore police Cmdr. Steve Cook said. The speed limit in the area is 45 mph.

"It appears she was traveling at a fair rate of speed," Cook said. "There’s no indication of any braking."

Schultz and the driver of the Silverado pickup, Derek W. Stephansen-Fitzgerald, 30, of Genoa, were transported to the hospital. Their injuries did not appear to have been life threatening, Cook said.

Traffic was diverted around the crash scene for more than an hour, and it took some time to clear the scene because the impact pushed the Silverado pickup onto the hood of the Malibu. First responders could be heard to cheer when a tow truck driver succeeded in pulling the pickup down.

The road was reopened to traffic by 8:30 a.m., Cook said.