Boy Killed In Crash Was Not In Car Seat: Police

WOODSTOCK, IL — The 43-year-old driver in a two-car crash last week was the aunt of a 7-year-old passenger who has since died, authorities said Tuesday. The child was not properly "restrained" when the crash occurred at Route 14 and Route 120 in Woodstock on June 4 and was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge by helicopter where he died two days later.

Under Illinois law, any child under the age of 8 years old must be secured in an appropriate child restraint system. The child was not in a car seat but may have been wearing a seatbelt, Woodstock Sgt. Rob Pritchard told Patch in an e-mail response.

The driver in the collision, Maria Diaz-Nunez, 43, of Rockford, now faces several charges including: failure to yield at a stop intersection, failure to secure a child under 8 years old in an appropriate child restraint, improper or prohibited turn at intersection, failure to wear a seatbelt, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and driver's license expired less than one year.

The two-vehicle crash happened at the Route 14 and Route 120 intersection at 3:53 p.m. on June 4. A preliminary investigation shows Diaz-Nunez was supposed to be in the right turn lane on Route 120 but was instead in the left turn lane, according to a news release from the Woodstock Police Department. She then turned right, crashing into the passenger side of a vehicle that was pulling farm equipment.

Diaz-Nunez's vehicle ended up in the grass on the north side of Route 14. The 7-year-old Rockford boy was sitting in the third row of the vehicle and was flown to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge and was pronounced dead on June 6. His organs will be donated, authorities said.

Diaz-Nunez was flown to Rockford's Javon Bea Hospital. She suffered a cracked vertebra and some broken ribs, according to the news release.

Two other passengers in the vehicle, a mother and son, were taken by ambulance to area hospitals. The son is an 18-year-old Rockford boy who is the nephew of Diaz-Nunez and was sitting in the front seat at the time of the crash. The mother, a 41-year-old Rockford woman, was sitting behind Diaz-Nunez when the crash occurred.

The driver and passengers in the other vehicle involved in the collision were not taken to the hospital.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation, police said.