Minooka ambulance driver sued over crash that injured 5 people

A Will County lawsuit has been filed against a Minooka ambulance driver over a May 23 crash that injured five people, including the driver.

The lawsuit filed Monday by plaintiff John Wnek alleges that Jacob Truhlar recklessly operated an ambulance without proper training and caused a crash that injured Wnek and others.

The crash occurred at Ridge and Wildy roads in Minooka.

Truhlar was driving the ambulance for the Minooka Fire Protection District.

The lawsuit alleges that Truhlar was 19 at the time of the incident, although the fire district has a minimum age requirement of 20 for his position.

The Minooka Fire Protection District was accused of counseling Truhlar in the past over concerns regarding his “on-duty driving behavior.”

A call to Al Yancey Jr., the Minooka Fire Protection District chief, was not returned July 8.

An investigation of the crash by the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office revealed five people were injured, including Truhlar.

The other people who were injured included the 31-year-old driver of a separate vehicle, a 51-year-old patient in the ambulance and two other adult occupants of the ambulance, ages 52 and 30.

Wneck’s lawsuit alleges that the patient was stable and there was no emergency that would have justified disregarding traffic control standards.

The lawsuit alleges that Truhlar made a “conscious and deliberate decision” to disregard a stop sign and enter an intersection without reducing his speed or stopping.

The investigation by the sheriff’s office resulted in Truhlar receiving a single citation for failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash.

Truhlar’s traffic case is set for a bench trial at 1 p.m. Sept. 10 before Kendall County Judge Lisa Accardi at the Kendall County Courthouse in Yorkville.