Chelsea B. Davis, a 32-year-old woman from LaSalle, has been identified as the deceased in a three-vehicle accident that occurred earlier this week on Tuesday, February 11.
The accident occurred on Interstate 80 around 11:30 a.m. in the westbound lanes near mile marker 82, to the east of Utica.
An accident a half an hour earlier had caused traffic to slow down in the westbound direction. A 49-year-old man from Goodfield was driving down the road when he was forced to slow down because of the other backed up traffic.
The 68-year-old woman from Woodridge followed suit with the semi in front of her and slowed down.
The third vehicle in the row has now been identified as Davis’ vehicle. She was behind the woman from Woodridge when traffic slowed.
For reasons that have not yet been determined, David did not notice the slowdown and rear-ended the Woodridge woman’s car.
Before her vehicle came to a complete stop, she ended up rear-ending the semi as well.
Utica Fire Chief Ben Brown stated that Davis did not have to be extracted from the vehicle. He also said that while they were waiting on a lifeline helicopter, she was unconscious and died from her injuries.
The other two drivers involved in the accident were not injured as a result of the collisions.
The Illinois State Police Traffic Crash Reconstruction Unit and the LaSalle County Coroner’s Office are continuing to investigate the accident.
There has been no mention to if Davis was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision.
No Comment