12-year-old boy dies in Interstate 57 crash

A 12-year-old boy is dead after a Thursday morning crash on Interstate 57 in Union County.

According to a news release from Illinois State Police, the crash happened Thursday morning near milepost 23 on southbound I-57; that’s about 1 mile south of the Dongola Road exit.

A 34-year-old Texas man was driving a semitrailer south on I-57, when he exited the roadway and struck a ditch. The semi overturned onto the driver side.

A 12-year-old boy was riding in the semi, and he was ejected from the vehicle. He died from his injuries.

I-57 south was closed at milepost 23 for six hours while police investigated the crash and cleaned up the scene. As of 4 p.m. Thursday, the right lane was still closed as cleanup was ongoing, but the left lane had reopened to traffic.

Thursday’s crash comes days after a crash on Monday just two miles north on the same stretch of road snarled traffic for hours. In that crash, a semitrailer hit a guardrail and traveled down an embankment, and when a Union County Sheriff’s deputy stopped to assist, the deputy’s patrol car was hit by another semi.

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