Personal Injury Law Blog

A car accident on a recent Sunday morning took the life of one man and injured two others.

According to police, 37-year-old Gary L. Vancil of Kewanee, Ill., died in the crash. Kenneth Armstrong, 38, and Fred Yelm, 37, both of Kewanee, were also injured.

Kewanee Police responded to a 911 call at approximately 1 a.m. to find that a truck had crashed into a home on East Division Street. According to police, the vehicle was traveling on South East Street toward East Division when it left the road and crashed into a garage.

The owners of the home, Greg and Janice Hutchinson, told KWQC that the impact shook their entire house.

Greg Hutchinson said that they “woke up to a giant thump, almost a boom.”

The couple said that the truck had come to rest on its side at the entrance to their garage, and the three men were trapped inside. They added that police and EMS arrived within minutes and had to remove the top of the truck cab to extricate the three men.

Vancil, a passenger in the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene. Yelm, the driver, and Armstrong, another passenger, were transported to local hospitals.

The Hutchinsons told KWQC that they felt awful for the families of the injured, but felt fortunate to have not been injured themselves. They said that a large rock located in their front yard may have protected them and saved their home from further damage. The truck struck the rock, according to the couple, causing it to flip over and hit the garage.

Mr. Hutchinson said that if the rock had not been there, the truck would have crashed into their living room.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago car accident lawyer and Chicago car accident attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit https://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.