Man Killed Near Road to Stateville Identified

The man hit by a truck and killed on Division Street near the road to Stateville early Saturday has been identified.

Will County Coroner Patrick O’Neil’s office identified the dead man as 35-year-old Miguel Lara of Plainfield.

Lara was walking along the Crest Hill street when he was struck by a truck, officials said.

A short time earlier, police received a report of a man running in and out of traffic in the same area. Officers searched for the man but could not find him.

It was not yet known if the man darting in and out of traffic was also Lara, police said.

The driver of the truck that hit Lara remained on the scene and submitted to tests that revealed no indication of intoxication, police said.

Just a week earlier, another pedestrian was hit by a car in Crest Hill and died in the hospital days later. Daniel Smeets, 56, of Joliet was struck by a vehicle on Plainfield Road near Birch Street. Witnesses said Smeets had been in the nearby bar Instant Replay not long before he was hit by the car.

In that case as well, the driver submitted to tests that showed he was not intoxicated.

The Illinois State Police were to reconstruct the accident on Division Street, according to the coroner’s office.

An autopsy was conducted on Lara’s body Saturday. The autopsy reportedly showed he suffered injuries consistent with someone who had been hit by a truck.

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