79-year-old man dies five days after Wilmington crash

A 79-year-old man died five days after he was injured in a crash early Tuesday in southwest suburban Wilmington.

Will County sheriff’s deputies responded to the head-on crash between a Chevrolet pickup and a Chevrolet Silverado at Frontage Road and Lorenzo Road in Wilmington about 2:40 a.m. March 15, according to sheriff’s office spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer.

A 54-year-old Wilmington woman was driving southbound on Frontage in the Silverado when she crossed into the northbound lane and struck 79-year-old Lavon Smith’s pickup head-on, Hoffmeyer said.

Smith, of the 300 block of Arrowhead Drive in Shorewood, suffered a fractured leg, arm, hip and ribs; and was initially taken to Presence St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin. He was later transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died at 1:21 p.m. Sunday, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy found he died of multiple blunt-force injuries from the crash, and his death was ruled an accident, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Smith’s passenger, a 73-year-old man, was taken to Morris Hospital with body soreness, Hoffmeyer said.

The 54-year-old woman was also taken to Morris Hospital with a broken wrist, broken right foot and fractured ribs. She was cited for never having a driver’s license and improper lane usage.