Motorist Blamed For Will County Sheriff Crash Injuring 3

JOLIET, IL - Several Joliet Patch readers came across a collision on Monday evening near Center and Ruby Streets involving a Will County Sheriff's Department sports utility vehicle and a woman and a child traveling in a van. Patch was told that the woman driving the van is in stable condition at St. Joe's hospital in Joliet and the child was taken to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood for further treatment. The sheriff's deputy was hospitalized in stable condition as well, a source told Joliet Patch.

One Patch reader who was traveling in the area came up the wreck just minutes afterward. "The police (sheriff) car was smashed on the side, the van was in the parking lot smashed. A cop was crouched and it looked like he was giving CPR to a very small child, and what appeared to be the mother or very close family member walked up and collapsed and was screaming. It looked like the van was T-boned."

The same reader told Patch, "I asked a guy on the side who was watching he said he saw it happen and the cop hit the van."

On Tuesday afternoon, the Joliet Herald-News published its first story about the crash. The article mentioned it had obtained a press release that blamed a 46-year-old Joliet man named Gilberto Jesus Galvon for causing the crash. According to the newspaper, the Will County police car was going east on Ruby with sirens and lights flashing and the Joliet man pulled out in front of the squad car, causing the sheriff's deputy to hit the right rear passenger side of Galvon's vehicle.

Several Joliet Patch readers were able to take photos of the crash scene. Here are some of their photos.

File image via Will County Sheriff