Fifth Person Dies After I-55 Truck Crash

CHICAGO (STMW) -- An Urbana man who died Wednesday evening is the fifth person killed in a semi-truck involved crash on Interstate 55 last month that left three other people injured.

Timothy Osburn, 64, of the 400 block of G H Baker Drive in Urbana, was pronounced dead at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood at 6:36 p.m., the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said.

Osburn was injured in one of two fatal crashes that occurred minutes apart on I-55 near Channahon July 21, Illinois State Police said.

A semi-truck driver was speeding northbound about 2:15 p.m. into a construction zone on I-55 near Arsenal Road when it abruptly changed lanes, causing a chain-reaction crash involving two cars and a van, according to state police.

Four women were killed in the crash, authorities said.

The Will County Coroner's office identified the dead as: Piper Britton, 11, and Kimberly K. Britton, 43, both of Urbana; Vicky L. Palacios, 54, of Coal City; and Ulrike P. Blopleh 48, of Channahon.

All four were pronounced dead at the scene, the coroner's office said.

Four other people, including Osburn, were also injured in the crash. The cars and the van were stopped in the construction zone when they were struck by the semi, police said.

The driver of the semi, 51-year-old Francisco Espinal Quiroz, was charged with felonies for false reporting of driving records and failure to maintain record of duty status, authorities said. He was also cited for failure to reduce speed to prevent an accident.

Quiroz was ordered held on a $1 million bond in a Will County court hearing July 22.

Quiroz communicated with the judge through an interpreter, the SouthtownStar reported. He was read the charges against him, and acknowledged them, but did not make a further statement.

Prosecutors say he was on the road for more than 12 hours, and Illinois law caps the number of permissible hours a driver can be on the road at 11 hours.

Sixteen minutes after the first crash, a rear-end collision occurred in the southbound lanes at U.S. 6, involving two semitrailers. Both drivers were taken to a hospital with what appeared at first to be minor injuries, police said. However, one driver later died from what police believe might be a medical condition.

He was identified as Deividas Mockus, 41, of Darien, according to the coroner's office. He was pronounced dead at Presence St. Joseph Health in Joliet at 4:29 p.m.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)