Mundelein man dies in Antioch crash

Passenger ejected when vehicle was struck while making U-turn, causing it to roll

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ANTIOCH -- A 56-year-old Mundelein man has been identified as the passenger who was killed in a rollover crash Jan. 9 in Antioch, authorities said.

About 5:30 p.m. Jan. 9, Lake County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to Route 45 and Route 173, Antioch Township, for a traffic crash with injuries, according to a news release.

Preliminary investigation showed that a 1997 Chevrolet Blazer, driven by a 59-year-old Mundelein man, had just pulled out of the gas station parking lot that is on the northwest corner of the intersection. The driver of the Chevrolet briefly drove west on Route 173 and then onto the shoulder on the north side of the roadway.

The driver then tried to make a U-turn to travel east on Route 173, police said. As the driver made the U-turn, the Chevrolet was struck by a westbound 1999 Lexus ES 300, driven by 25-year-old Buffalo Grove man. This caused the Chevrolet to roll.

The front-seat passenger in the Chevrolet, a 56-year-old Eleazar Hernandez of Mundelein, is believed to have been ejected from the Chevrolet. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, Good Samaritans were conducting CPR on him. He was taken via ambulance to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where he was later pronounced dead in the emergency room at 6:30 p.m.

The driver of the Chevrolet was taken via ambulance to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville with injuries that were not life-threatening. The driver of the Lexus was uninjured.

An autopsy on Hernandez on Jan. 11 indicated that he died as a result of traumatic head injuries, according to a news release from the Lake County Coroner’s Office.

The crash remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Unit.