Clare teenager frees trapped Sycamore teen from car after fiery rollover crash

SYCAMORE – Two teenagers were hospitalized Thursday after they suffered injuries when the car they were in went off the road, rolled over and caught fire upside down in a Sycamore residential yard, trapping one of the teens inside.

The fiery rollover crash was reported about 7:36 p.m. Thursday on North First Street about ½ mile north of Coltonville Road, according to a DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office news release.

DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan said an 18-year-old passenger from Clare helped extract the driver, also a teenager, from a flipped 2004 Chevrolet Impala that was in engulfed in flames.

“The vehicle ultimately left the roadway and hit a fence, some small trees and it rolled over, at which time it also caught fire,” Sullivan said. “So thankfully the passenger in the vehicle was able to cut the driver’s seatbelt off and help get him out of the car. That was good that the passenger was able to do that, because the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames when it rolled over.”

The driver was taken by Sycamore paramedics to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb, while the passenger drove himself to the hospital. Both suffered injuries that were not life-threatening, authorities said.

Investigators said the driver, 19, of Sycamore was traveling south on North First Street and, while passing another southbound vehicle, “heard a mechanical noise in the front of the vehicle and the vehicle pulled hard to the left.” The teenager told police their car had just underwent brake work.

“When he applied [the brakes], apparently they didn’t slow his vehicle down,” Sullivan said.

Instead, the car crashed into a wooden fence and yard with trees, flipped over and caught fire.

Sullivan he was not aware of any burn injuries the teenagers may have suffered, but said the driver was lucky he wasn’t alone.

“I’m not sure if he was unable to do that himself, but the passenger certainly helped get him get out of the vehicle and cut that seatbelt,” Sullivan said.