EDGEWOOD, Ill. - A truck driver from Missouri was behind the wheel of a Peterbilt that struck a slow-moving Chevy...which had five passengers under the age of 12 in it, and which collision sent all five as well as the driver of the vehicle they were in to various hospitals.
Illinois State Police report that the collision took place very early this morning - 4:12 a.m. - Sunday, September 2.
ISP in District 12 Effingham said that the preliminary investigative details indicate that a blue 2002 Chevrolet Cobalt being driven by Angelia W. Obasad, 28, of Jefferson, Arkansas, was traveling northbound on Interstate 57 approximately 1 mile north of Edgewood at a slow speed.
With Obasad were five passengers: Four male juveniles ages 11, 9, 6 and 2; and a female juvenile age 9, all of them also from Jefferson, Ark.
Rocky D. Rash, 55, of Elkland, Missouri, was driving a black/silver 2007 Peterbilt truck-tractor with semi trailer combination. Rash's truck struck Obasad's Chevy from behind. ISP doesn't say what happened after that. However, everyone in the Chevy was injured: One of the children (ISP didn't specify which one) was transported by Air Evac to Children's Hospital in St. Louis; all other occupants including the driver were transported by ambulance to St. Anthony's Hospital in Effingham.
Rash was cited for Failure to Reduce Speed to Avoid an Accident.
Obasad was cited for Driving While License Suspended, Violating the Minimum Speed Requirements, and Failure to Properly Secure Child Under 8 in a Child Restraint.