SPRINGFIELD, Ill.— Three kids and a teen were killed when a car slammed into a building that was used for a popular after-school camp in central Illinois. Police said Thursday that the driver was not drunk or high and may have had a medical emergency.
At a news conference, Illinois State Police Director Brendan F. Kelly said that the 44-year-old driver has not been charged yet. The driver is not being held, Kelly said.
Kelly said that the evidence that she may have had a medical emergency was “not conclusive” and that the review is still going on.
Monday, the car went off the road, crossed a field, and hit the side of a Chatham building that YNOT (Youth Needing Other Things Outdoors) calls home. It hit people as it went through the building and then came out the other side.
Six more kids were taken to the hospital. A spokesperson for the state police said after Thursday’s news conference that four of them were still in the hospital, with one being in serious condition.
Ainsley Johnson, 8, Kathryn Corley, 7, and Alma Buhnerkempe, 7, were all killed. Rylee Britton, 18, was from Springfield. All of the kids were from Chatham, a town of about 15,000 people outside of Springfield, Illinois, which is the state capital.
Kelly said the driver wasn’t hurt, but was taken to the hospital to be checked out after the accident. He said that the blood and urine tests she gave on her own did not show any drugs or alcohol.
“Some evidence has been found that there may have been a medical emergency before the crash,” Kell said. “But the investigation into this information and other evidence has not ended yet and will not end until all leads and research have been used up.”
He wouldn’t say more about the possible health problem or what proof detectives have that a medical emergency may have happened. For the same reason, he wouldn’t say if the driver was awake and aware when help arrived.
Jamie Loftus, founder of YNOT Outdoors, said that security camera video showed the car was “a substantial distance” away when it left the road. It went across a field, a road, a path, and YNOT’s parking lot before crashing through the building “without seeming to try to change its direction,” Loftus said earlier this week. The car then went across a dirt road and hit a fence and pole.
Kelly said that the car went more than 1,300 feet (396 meters), but she wouldn’t say more or say how fast the car was going.
He said he couldn’t say when the investigation would be over and that it would be up to the Sangamon County state’s attorney to decide if charges should be brought.