BY BRIAN L. HUCHEL
Commercial-News
ST. JOSEPH —
Quick thinking saved a Danville woman from serious injury in a four-car accident Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 74.
One person was killed and another injured in the crash in the westbound lanes of Interstate 74 at the 195 ½ mile marker, just east of St. Joseph.
Champaign County Coroner Duane Northrup identified the crash victim as Wayne Conley, 44, of Indianapolis.
Northrup said Conley was pronounced dead at 2:49 p.m. Tuesday at the crash site. An autopsy on Wednesday showed Conley had died from head injuries.
The accident began after Conley’s vehicle rolled over in the median of the interstate. Traffic was backed up as a result of that crash, which involved a Ford Escort.
According to state police reports, Sue Ellen Lynch, 55, of Danville had parked her Ford Escape on the right shoulder of the road near the scene of the roll-over accident. An approaching Dodge Intrepid driven by Richard Guentert, 67, of Johnstown, Iowa, rear-ended a Ford Ranger truck that had slowed for the roll-over crash.
Lynch had to dive into the back seat of her car to avoid being hit by Guentert’s car, which then struck Lynch’s vehicle instead, state police indicated.
The Ford Ranger truck, as a result of being rear-ended by Guentert’s car, veered off the road and into the median. It struck the roll-over accident vehicle — which was on its side originally — and rolled it onto its roof. The driver of the Ford Ranger, Debra Wingo, 39, of Ogden, was injured and taken to Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.
A spokeswoman for Carle Foundation Hospital said Wednesday that Wingo had been treated and released.
The driver of the Ford Escort was a 44-year-old man. No other information has been released.
Guentert was issued a citation by state police for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.
