Driver dies after rear-ending semi in Wadsworth

A Wisconsin man was killed when a car crashed into a semi-truck Sunday night in north suburban Wadsworth.

At 10:15 p.m., a 2005 Chrysler 300 was going north up Route 41 and approaching the Wadsworth Road intersection, according to a statement from the Lake County sheriff’s office. A 2012 Freightliner semi-truck up ahead was beginning to accelerate after the light turned green.

The Chrysler barreled into the Freightliner, killing the smaller vehicle’s driver at the scene, the sheriff’s office said. Prior to the crash, the car had been moving “at a high rate of speed.”

The driver was identified as 47-year-old Roderick Richardson of Kenosha, Wisconsin, according to the Lake County coroner’s office. Preliminary results of an autopsy performed Monday indicated he died from blunt force trauma injuries, but toxicology testing was pending and the investigation into his death was ongoing.

The sheriff’s office said the semi-truck driver, a 46-year-old man from Alger, Ohio, was not injured.