A man from Fairmount has been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol after a crash on Interstate 74 late Wednesday evening that sent six people to the hospital.
Illinois State Police say that 42-year-old Joseph Cast is facing a preliminary DUI charge as well as charges of driving on a suspended license, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and improper lane usage.
The accident occurred at 9:41 p.m. on Wednesday near the Bowman Avenue exit. Police say Cast was driving eastbound when he left the roadway and struck the concrete barrier of the bridge, with his vehicle coming to rest in the middle of the roadway. A chain-reaction crash ensued, with a total of five vehicles involved, one of which overturned before coming to rest on its driver’s side.
Cast was hospitalized along with a 63-year-old Seattle woman, a 50-year-old man and a 48-year-old woman from Bloomington and a 52-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy from Lincoln, Neb.
All eastbound lanes of I-74 were closed for about two hours as police investigated the crash.
