ISU student from Crystal Lake dies after campus hit-and-run

A 20-year-old Illinois State University student from the northwest suburbs died after he was struck by a car in a hit-and-run crash Saturday morning near his dorm, the university said in a statement.

Benjamin Allison was in the crosswalk near College and Fell, just east of ISU’s main quadrangle, when he was struck by a vehicle driven by an intoxicated driver at 8:46 a.m., according to Normal police and the university.

Allison, a Crystal Lake resident, was taken to Advocate Bromenn Medical Center, where police said he remained on life support Tuesday morning.

But in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, university president Larry H. Dietz said Allison had died.

“Today is a sad day for the Illinois State University family as we mourn the loss of a student, Benjamin Allison,” Dietz said in the statement. “Our sincerest condolences go to his family.”

The driver of the vehicle that hit Allison was identified as 21-year-old Joshua Dunn, an ISU student originally from Lombard, police said. He was charged Saturday with driving under the influence of drugs and failure to report an accident, police said.

Dunn told police he was drinking several hours before the crash, but that has not yet been confirmed by lab tests, police said.

Police or the McClean County state’s attorney’s office could not immediately be reached to say whether Dunn’s charges would be upgraded.

On Monday, a McClean County judge ordered him held on a $750,000 bond, police said.

Allison was a communications major at ISU and worked at the school’s radio station, WZND, Dietz said in the statement.

Dietz said Allison was “passionate” about hockey and was active in the sport near campus and in Crystal Lake.

Allison’s organs will be donated, Dietz said.