A 5-year-old was killed Tuesday when the car in which he was riding was passing traffic in the wrong lane and struck another vehicle head-on near Beach Park, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.
His brother, a 2-year-old boy, was critically injured. Apparently, neither child was restrained by a seatbelt or in a car seat, police said. Authorities have not yet released their identities.
The boys were traveling in a Chevrolet Malibu that was being driven by their father, a 24-year-old Waukegan man. He was driving in the oncoming lane of Green Bay Road at around 5 p.m. when he collided with a pickup truck just north of Hart Street.
Witnesses told police that the Malibu was headed southbound and was going into the northbound lanes to pass traffic when the crash happened, police said.
The 2-year-old was on his father’s lap at the time of the crash, police said. The father suffered serious injuries and required extrication. He told police that no one else was in the car, but officers eventually found the 5-year-old covered by debris on the floor of the backseat.
He was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. The 2-year-old was brought to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago in critical condition.
The driver of the pickup, a 57-year-old Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, man, was seriously injured and brought to a hospital for treatment.
The incident remains under investigation and the sheriff’s office said it will pursue criminal charges.
