Police give new details of crash that killed Gilberts teen

PINGREE GROVE – The communities of Pingree Grove, Hampshire and Gilberts are grieving the death of 16-year-old boy and severe injuries to two siblings following a crash Thursday evening in Pingree Grove Police Chief Chris Harris said.

“They are going through quite a time,” Harris said. “They are coming together in support.”

The two-vehicle crash occurred at 7:25 p.m., 300 feet east of the intersection of Illinois Route 72 and Reinking Road.

Bryce Simon, 16, of Gilberts, was flown to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge where he later died, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office on reported on Friday.

His funeral is scheduled on Saturday, according to an obituary notice at the DeFiore Funeral Home in Huntley.

Simon was driving a pickup truck east on Route 72 at a high rate of speed when he lost control and swerved into oncoming westbound traffic, striking a sedan head-on, according to a news releases.

The sedan driver was an 18-year-old and the passenger was her 11-year-old brother. Both were flown to hospitals outside the area, Harris said.

The siblings, from Pingree Grove, were initially listed in critical condition, but now the 11-year-old has been upgraded to stable condition with internal injuries, Harris said.

The speed limit in that area is 55 miles an hour, Harris said, but the Kane County Accident Reconstruction Team is still investigating if speed was a factor in the crash, he said.

“I don’t know if they can determine the speed. Someone at the intersection saw the truck go through the green light and then went out of control,” Harris said. “I do know the Pingree Grove and Countryside Fire Protection District was on scene almost immediately.”

Both vehicles were totaled, he said.

Emergency responders had to remove the roof and doors of the sedan and use a hydraulic ram to lift the dashboard off the two in the sedan, Pingree Grove Deputy Fire Chief Chris Howell said.

“When the dashboard is smashed out into somebody’s lap or on their legs – or the steering wheel is – we use special tools to make cuts and use the hydraulic ram to lift or roll the dash board off the person,” Howell said. “If it’s the steering wheel, we pull the whole column.”

The brother and sister in the sedan both wore seat belts, Harris said.

Simon, who was driving the pickup truck, was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown 30 feet, Harris said.

“It might have saved him, but it’s not a guarantee,” Harris said of a seat belt.

Other factors – alcohol, drugs or texting – in connection to the crash are still under investigation, Harris said.

The night of the crash was clear and the temperature was in the 40s, Harris said, whereas going into the winter season, roads can become slick and requires drivers to reduce their speed.

Even if the pickup truck was being driven at the speed limit, “Two vehicles traveling at 55 miles an hour would have a 110-mile-an-hour collision,” Harris said.

In his 11 years previously serving on the county’s accident reconstruction team, Harris said crashes were all speed-related.

After a recent study, the Illinois Department of Transportation plans to reduce the speed limit by five miles between Route 47 to Reinking Road to 50 miles an hour, Harris said.

“That’s not going to do a whole lot, but it’s something,” Harris said. “With all the building in Pingree Grove, I’d like to see it lowered to 45, but no one does the speed limit anyway, or so it seems.”

Multiple agencies responded to the crash to assist Pingree Grove: Burlington, Hampshire and Huntley Ambulance; Rutland Dundee Engine 51, Kane County Office of Emergency Management; LifeNet Medical Helicopter and React Medical Helicopter.

Carpentersville, Huntley and South Elgin covered their stations while they were on-scene, according to a news release.