Two people were killed and another person was seriously injured in a three-vehicle crash that closed part of Interstate 80 for more than 10 hours Tuesday near southwest suburban Joliet.
At 6:12 a.m., a disabled semi tractor and double trailer, driven by 49-year-old Jugoslav Djordjevic, was parked on the right shoulder of I-80 eastbound at milepost 129, according to Illinois State Police.
A replacement truck tractor came to assist and parked on the shoulder in front of the disabled truck, police said.
Sami Guzick, 50, was assisting with the vehicles when a third semi veered off onto the right shoulder, striking the rear of the double trailer and Guzick, before becoming engulfed in flames, authorities said.
Guzick, who lived in Joliet, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Will County coroner’s office. Preliminary autopsy results revealed she died of multiple injuries she suffered in the crash.
Djordjevic, a La Grange resident, was airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died at 9:09 p.m., according to ISP and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy found he died of full-body burns in the crash, and his death was ruled an accident.
The driver of the third semi, a 46-year-old Chicago man, was also hospitalized with serious injuries, police said. He was cited for improper lane usage and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.
The interstate was shut down for hours while the Illinois State Police Reconstruction Unit was at the scene and clean-up crews removed debris, police said. All eastbound lanes reopened about 5 p.m.