Woman fatally hit by truck after pushing husband out of the way in Elgin

An Elburn woman was credited with saving her husband’s life after she pushed him out of the way of an incoming truck, only to be fatally struck herself in Elgin in the west suburbs.

The crash happened Monday night after Katarzyna Kurek-Polk and her husband pulled over to check on a car that slid off the road near McLean Road and Route 20, according to statements from Elgin police and the Kane County coroner’s office.

As Kurek-Polk stood along the roadway, she noticed a truck barreling toward them and pushed her husband out of the way moments before she was struck at 11:15 p.m. by a 43-year-old driver, the coroner’s office said.

Kurek-Polk, 37, was taken to Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, where she was pronounced dead, the coroner’s office said. Preliminary autopsy results showed she died of blunt force trauma.

The husband and the juvenile driver of the first car to crash suffered minor injuries and were treated and released from a hospital, police said.

On Monday, about 1.5 inches of snow fell on the Chicago area, according to the National Weather Service.