From Austin German’s Facebook page
HARDIN CO., Ill.—Authorities have confirmed and released the identity of the young man who was killed in a car crash very early this morning in Hardin County.
The name of the deceased is Austin German, 21, of rural Cave-in-Rock.
According to preliminary information, German was killed when his vehicle hit a tree off Highway 146 not far from Highway 34. The exact cause of death is unknown, but reports indicate that severe blood lost might have attributed to it, as one of his legs was severed in the crash.
Tests are being conducted to see if the crash was alcohol-related. On July 26, German was arrested on a DUI in Hardin; however, prosecutor Tara Wallace had refused to prosecute, specifically because the arresting officer was Shawn Turner, who took the place of Wallace’s now-“investigator,” Tom Maynard, fired from the sheriff’s department over a year ago. German’s tests following the DUI stop were supposedly languishing at Illinois State Police District 22 in Ullin, but the delay may also have been attributed to Wallace solely. Many Hardin residents have complained vociferously over the past year and a half that she’s not only not doing her job as state’s attorney, but actually doesn’t know what she’s doing at all at it.
German has had a problem with drug arrests in the past, as well, having been part of a bust in 2012; he was also a target of the “kill list” girls in early 2012 in Hardin.
Illinois State Police out of District 22 are handling the investigation into German’s death; information about the identity was made available through sources there, who also noted that the county coroner, Jessica Cullum, was out of town and a deputy coroner, Ken Conkle, was called out to the scene of the wreck in order to make the call.