Fatal Auto Accident in Carroll County Yields DUI Charge

Often, when you read a news article about an auto accident, there will be no information available about how the crash occurred or who was at fault. That's usually because authorities are still in the process of investigating the incident. However, you can sometimes "read between the lines" of the story and form a pretty good idea about what happened.

Monday's report in the online edition of the Clinton Herald newspaper is a perfect example. According to the Carroll County Sheriff's Department, a two-vehicle collision occurred on Illinois 84 about four miles north of Thomson near Spring Lake. The male driver of the southbound vehicle (who was from Clinton) was declared dead at the scene, while his female passenger was airlifted to a hospital in Rockford. The male driver and lone occupant of the northbound vehicle (who is from Savanna) was charged with improper lane usage and driving under the influence.

While we cannot determine what transpired with complete certainty based solely on this information, we can construct the most likely scenario. Which is this: the Savanna man was legally impaired while driving his vehicle northbound on the highway, and drifted across the center line to strike the southbound vehicle and cause the fatal collision.

If this set of circumstances turns out to be accurate, the Savanna man may later be named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of the Clinton man, as well as a personal injury lawsuit in which the injured female passenger is the plaintiff. That means that in addition to possible criminal penalties, the Savanna man could be ordered to pay damages to the Clinton man's heirs for burial expenses, pain and suffering, loss of care and companionship, and/or lost future wages; as well as reimburse the injured woman for medical expenses, therapy and recovery treatments, and lost wages due to absenteeism