THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION PROVIDED BY ILLINOIS STATE POLICE
Illinois State Police are reporting that at 5:12 PM Tuesday a vehicle traveling southbound on U.S. Route 45 near 1190 North Road in Iroquois County was being pursued by Paxton Police and the Ford County Sheriff’s Department, when the driver lost control of the vehicle. That vehicle, a 2016 black Mercedes Benz GLE 350, crossed the center line and hit a northbound 2003 Jeep Wrangler head on. At that point, the Mercedes that was being pursued spun out, and crashed into a 2004 green Ford F150, which was also going north on Route 45. The Mercedes then spun out and flipped multiple times; and a fourth vehicle, a white Toyota Camry, sustained a flat tire driving over debris.
Pronounced deceased at the scene were the driver of the vehicle being pursued, 44-year-old Krista A. Woltz-Hernandez of Buckey; and the driver of the vehicle struck head-on, 65-year-old Julie L. McGowan of Rantoul. The driver of the third vehicle that was hit, a 36-year-old male from Onarga, was taken to an area hospital with injuries; and the driver and two passengers in the vehicle that sustained the flat tire from debris were not injured.
The investigation into this accident continues to be open.
