Van driver hurt in rural DeKalb County after tires fly off semitrailer truck

A Belvidere man was hospitalized Thursday after two tires came off a semitrailer truck and crashed into a van he was driving in rural northern DeKalb County, authorities said.

Authorities were called to the two-vehicle crash at 4:28 p.m. at Cherry Valley and Snake roads in rural DeKalb County north of Kirkland and Kingston, according to a news release from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.

A 28-year-old man from Belvidere driving a Ford van was injured and taken by Kirkland paramedics to a Swedish American hospital in Belvidere, according to the sheriff’s office.

The driver of the semitrailer truck, Jeremiah N. Haynes, 22, of Sycamore, was not injured.

Both men were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.

The semitrailer truck was headed west on Cherry Valley Road near Snake Road when two of the truck’s tires came off the axle, according to the sheriff’s office.

The loose tires struck the van, which was traveling east, head-on. The collision caused the van to crash into a south ditch and overturn, according to the sheriff’s office.

Haynes was cited by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office for unsafe equipment, according to the release.