Three Dead in Crash Involving Ill. Ambulance

Journal Star, Peoria, Ill.

Three people were killed in an overnight crash involving an ambulance in rural Woodford County.

Shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday, a silver Chevrolet was traveling southbound on County Road 2400 East about a mile east of Benson when it drove into the path of an ambulance westbound on Illinois Route 116, Illinois State Police stated in a news release.

The ambulance struck the vehicle on the driver's side, and three people in the Chevrolet were killed: driver Morgan Ryder, 20, of Gridley, and two 19-year-old men, Jared Seggerman of Minonk and Seth Unruh of Pattonsburg, according to state police.

Autopsies are to be performed Sunday, according to Woodford County Coroner Tim Ruestman.

The ambulance driver, 42-year-old Joe Delgado of LaSalle, was transported to an area hospital for treatment of injuries. So was Blake Hert, a 21-year-old man from Minonk who was riding in the Chevrolet and sustained serious injuries.

The ambulance was carrying a patient, a 78-year-old woman from Ottawa. A 25-year-old Earlville woman also was in the ambulance, but no information about her condition or the patient's was released.

It wasn't clear where the ambulance was headed.

The roadway was closed for about six hours for officials to investigate the accident, but it was expected to reopen about 8 a.m.