Girl still hospitalized after January crash near Huntley that sent 5 teenagers to hospital

A 17-year-old Algonquin girl – one of five teenagers in a car that crashed on a Saturday night in January – remained hospitalized as of Tuesday, a McHenry County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said.

All five teenagers were taken Jan. 21 to Northwestern Medicine hospitals in Huntley and Woodstock after the car they were traveling in crashed into a fence when the driver tried to pass another vehicle in a no-passing zone, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office said in a release at the time.

The Algonquin girl was then taken to Advocate Lutheran General in Park Ridge, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Emily Matusek said. Additional information on her condition and location was not available because of her age.

The driver, a 17-year-old boy from Algonquin, has not been cited in connection with the crash as the investigation is ongoing, she said.

Under Illinois’ graduated licensing rules, during the first 12 months after being issued a license or until the driver turns 18, whichever occurs first, the number of passengers is limited to one person under 20, unless the passenger is a sibling, stepsibling, child or stepchild of the driver, according to the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.

Drivers 16 to 17 years old also are not allowed to drive from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Friday through Saturday.

Police said the Algonquin boy was driving a 2013 Infiniti G37, headed west on Conley Road, when it crashed after attempting to pass another vehicle, also headed west, in a no-passing zone. The car left the road, rolled over, crashed through a fence and ended up in a field.

The crash occurred just before 9 p.m. on the 11100 block of Conley Road in unincorporated Grafton Township, according to the release.

The car’s other occupants included a 16-year-old boy from Dundee, a 16-year-old boy from Carpentersville and an 18-year-old woman from Carpentersville, according to the release.

Just three weeks later, another car with five teenagers crashed Feb. 11 on a different stretch of roadway southwest of Huntley in rural Kane County.

All five teenagers in that crash – including two from Huntley, one from Elk Grove Village and two from Arlington Heights – remained hospitalized as of Tuesday as well, Kane County Undersheriff Amy Johnson said.

In that crash, emergency responders were dispatched about 2:50 a.m. Feb. 11 to Dietrich Road, west of Brier Hill Road in unincorporated Hampshire Township, according to a news release from the Kane County Sheriff’s Office at the time.

A 2019 Honda HR-V, driven by a 16-year-old Arlington Heights girl, was eastbound on Dietrich Road traveling at a high rate of speed when, for unknown reasons, it left the roadway and struck a tree on the north side of the roadway.

There was no delay between the crash and the emergency responders being dispatched, Johnson said.

The investigation into that crash is also ongoing and no charges or citations have been issued.