3 killed, 6 injured within 2 hours in separate Bartlett crashes

BARTLETT, Illinois (Sun-Times Media Wire) - Two separate crashes Sunday killed three people and injured six others in west suburban Bartlett.

In the latest crash, 25-year-old Darion Garner was driving a 2005 Ford Escape with six passengers about 12:45 p.m. when he lost control while going west on Lake Street/U.S. Route 20 near the Route 59 overpass, according to Bartlett Police Chief Geoffrey Pretkelis and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. The Ford rolled over, left the road and struck a chain-link fence and a ComEd utility pole.

Garner and a 31-year-old Latasha Lawson were pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. They both lived in northwest suburban Streamwood.

Five other passengers were also injured and taken to Sherman Hospital in Elgin and St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates, Pretkelis said. They were expected to survive.

About two hours earlier and less two miles south, 49-year-old Katheryn A. Wirsing was driving a 2015 Ford Fiesta north on Route 59 when she crossed into oncoming traffic between Auburn Lane and Santa Fe Street and struck a 2016 Subaru WRX, authorities said.

Wirsing was taken to St. Alexius Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 11:25 a.m., authorities said. She lived in west suburban Winfield.

The driver of the Subaru was taken to Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Pretkelis said.

Autopsies Monday found that Garner, Lawson and Wirsing each died of their injuries in the crashes, the medical examiner’s office said. All three deaths were ruled accidental.

Lake Street/U.S. Route 20 was reopened by 10:30 p.m. Sunday after it was shut down between Route 59 and Naperville Road while police and the Major Case Assistance Team’s Serious Traffic Accident Reconstruction Team investigates the double-fatal crash.

Route 59 was reopened in the afternoon after a 4 1/2 hour investigation.