Good Samaritans Pull Trapped Motorcyclists to Safety Following Fiery Fox Lake Crash

A fiery crash that killed two and injured five over the weekend in Fox Lake could have been "much worse" if it weren't for the selfless acts of witnesses who rushed to the aid of the crash victims, Fox Lake Chief Russell Laine said Tuesday.

On Saturday afternoon, a couple passersby came upon the crash in the 6800 block State Park Road in Fox Lake and pulled at least two motorcyclists out from underneath a truck that had caught fire following a collision that involved the truck and three motorcycles, Fox Lake Police Chief Russell Laine said. The two motorcycles carrying four people, which were also on fire, became wedged under the fiery truck after the truck veered head on into a group of motorcycles.

The crash ultimately ended up killing the truck driver and one motorcyclist, Matthew Stautz, 43, of Rothschild, Wis., but Laine said the end results could have been much worse if it weren’t for the Good Samaritans who “were just reacting and not thinking about their own safety” when they came to the aid of the trapped motorcyclists. In total, five motorcyclists were injured in the crash--one who sustained serious injuries, Laine said. Laine said officers are still sorting out the details from the crash, including which motorcyclists were saved by passersby, as they continue to interview witnesses.

Lake County Chief Deputy Coroner Orlando Portillo said Monday that the truck driver killed, Charles Kleffner, 60, of Spring Grove, suffered from an “unspecified medical episode” prior to the crash according to the Daily Herald. His official cause of death is pending as the coroner’s office continues to investigate the crash and is waiting on Kleffner’s toxicology results.

The McHenry County Coroner’s Office is expected to conduct an autopsy on Tuesday for Stautz.
Laine said the motorcyclists were traveling together as a group, which included ten people on five different motorcycles, when the crash occurred. He said the group of friends were not a part of an organized ride.

More on Patch: 2 Dead, 5 Injured in Fiery Fox Lake Crash