Driver ejected from car and taken by ambulance
The driver was transported to the hospital in serious condition.
Rockton Fire personnel were dispatched at 6:20 a.m. Sept. 23, 2022 to a single-car incident just south of the intersection of North Main and Gleasman Roads in Owen Township, about 3.5 miles west of 251. The driver had been thrown from his vehicle after it left the road and struck a tree. His gray car was so heavily damaged that it seems to have broken in two. Paramedics quickly put the driver into the ambulance and transported him to a local hospital.
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The young driver's mother says a second car was also involved. She posted on Facebook, "A car pulled out in front of my son and he tried avoiding it and ended up losing control of the car." The car he tried to avoid hitting did not stop.
She told us later, "My son's lucky to be alive... broken bones, surgery, collapsed lung, but he's alive... He was out there for almost 2 hours before anyone found him. He tied his broken leg to his good leg and tried crawling to find his phone." He used the voice-controlled Siri app on his iPhone and attempted three times to get through to 911.
Neighbors say that accidents in this area are common. We have reached out to the Illinois Department of Transportation to see if the intersection could be made safer. The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office is investigating the accident, but has not released any further information.
