2 kids among 5 hurt in head-on crash on suburban Route 14, including 1 ejected from car seat

Two children were among five people injured after a car collided head-on with another vehicle on Route 14 in a far northwest suburb Sunday, with one of the children airlifted to a Trauma 1 center after reportedly being ejected from a car seat.

According to a release, officials from the Harvard Fire Protection District were dispatched just after 4 p.m. Sunday to the intersection of Route 14 and Lembcke Road in unincorporated Harvard for reports of a head-on crash between two vehicles.

While en-route to the scene, the call was upgraded to include repots of entrapments, officials said, including a child that had been reportedly ejected from a car seat while inside a car.

Once they arrived, crews found two heavily-damaged vehicles — a sedan and an SUV — with debris scattered across the roadway. A total of five people were involved, including four occupants inside the SUV and an adult male driver behind the wheel of the sedan.

Firefighters worked to free the driver of the sedan, who had been trapped in his vehicle, authorities said. After he was extricated, he was transported to a nearby hospital in serious condition.

Two adults inside the SUV sustained moderate injuries and were also transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. Two children inside the SUV were also injured, with one airlifted from the scene in serious condition to a Level 1 trauma center.

The second child was transported to a nearby hospital with minor injuries, officials said.

As part of the rescue, a medical helicopter, LifeNet McHenry, landed directly on Route 14 to assist, officials said. Route 14 remained closed in both directions for nearly 90 minutes while emergency crews responded to the scene.

It wasn’t immediately clear what led up to the crash, or the circumstances surrounding it. No further details were provided.

According to the fire protection district, the crash remains under investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office.