Teen admits to clipping tanker in crash that killed 5 in Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A federal report on a tanker truck crash a year ago in central Illinois that spilled a toxic chemical and killed five people includes an interview with a 17-year-old Ohio girl who admits the truck was forced off the road when the minivan he was driving passed him.

The tanker slowed and pulled to the right to allow the minivan to return to the right lane and avoid a head-on collision with oncoming traffic on two-lane US 40 in Teutopolis on September 29, 2023, according to Dash. – Cam video from the truck, also released Wednesday evening by the National Transport Safety Council.

“Oh, (the complaint). Yes. oh god Yes, totally my bad. wow Holy (splaining),” the girl said while watching video from the ill-fated truck during an Oct. 4, 2023, interview with Illinois State Police.

The truck was carrying anhydrous caustic ammonia when it jackknifed and struck a utility trailer parked just off the highway. The trailer hitch punctured the tank, spilling about half of its 7,500-gallon (28,390-liter) load at about 8:40 p.m. just west of Teutopolis, a community about 110 miles (177 kilometers) northeast of St. Louis.

As a result of the incident, five people died, including three family members who were near the road. About 500 people were evacuated in the hours after the accident to avoid exposure to dangerous plumes from the chemical used by farmers to add nitrogen fertilizer to soil and large buildings as a refrigerant.

The transportation board said its latest findings are just a factual account and do not include analysis or conclusions, which are expected later.

Illinois State Police conducted its own investigation, and spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said the department turned its findings over to Effingham County State’s Attorney Aaron Jones last month. A message seeking comment from Jones was left at his office Thursday.

The girl, whose name is being redacted in the state police interview transcript because she was a minor at the time, said she was traveling with her mother and brother to visit her mother’s boyfriend in the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis. A crash on Interstate 70 earlier that night diverted loads of traffic onto US 40, and she said she passed three trucks on the road heading west toward Teutopolis.

The girl said her tank crossing started in a crossing zone, although a no crossing sign appears in the video. She said once she started to pass she realized she had to speed up to clear oncoming traffic and estimated she was going 90km/h when she pulled to the right, sliding into an oncoming vehicle from the opposite direction. She told investigators her mother was upset about the close call but thought she had enough clearance.

However, she refused police interviewers’ offer to play the dash cam video again.

“No, you don’t have to. It was totally my fault,” said the girl. “Honestly, I’ve had times in the past where I just don’t use good judgment to judge distances and if I have enough time for something.”

Trying to give the minivan room to pass, the truck veered onto the shoulder, lost traction on the gravel and then struck a drainage ditch, according to the truck driver, who survived. Continuing west, the girl said she soon saw emergency vehicles coming east but did not connect them with her passing the truck.

She said that before the family’s trip back to Ohio, when her mother was reading aloud news stories about the crash, she had no idea it had happened.

“Of course not,” she told investigators. “I’ve told you that three times.”

When one of the investigators expressed disbelief that no one in the car noticed a truck roll over behind them, she doubled down.

“No one said, ‘Oh, the guy behind you went off the road,'” the girl said. “It would have been a huge deal for everyone. We’d be like, ‘Oh, (expletive), we’ve just caused something really bad to happen,’ and then it’s like we’ve been thinking” all night about what to do.

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