Delavan city police and accident observers are hinting that a medical problem could have caused a head-on collision in Walworth County. A 43-year-old Elkhorn man died after his Chevy Lumina crashed straight into a vehicle occupied by a family.
The fatal car accident on Route 43 remains under investigation by police and the county medical examiner’s office. Published reports say the Lumina was seen moving erratically through traffic in advance of the motor vehicle accident. Witnesses told police the car veered into oncoming traffic lanes and hit a Chrysler Pacifica.
The Elkhorn driver died after being airlifted to a Lake Geneva trauma center. Injuries to family members in the second car were not disclosed.
A friend of the deceased told police the Chevy driver had called him to help fix a car tire alongside the road. At the time, the friend noticed the Elkhorn resident was acting sluggish and sweating excessively. Authorities learned the victim had not been well in the days leading up to the crash.
The well-liked man’s girlfriend said he had developed a habit of consuming daily pitchers of Kool-Aid. The symptoms the friends described could have been a result of hypoglycemia. An unidentified source stated that the victim’s blood sugar was extraordinarily low at the time of the accident.
Medical events, like heart attacks or diabetic comas, can immediately disable an individual’s ability to operate a motor vehicle. Some people who are stricken by sudden health conditions have no idea they are sick.
Other drivers ignore signs of poor health and refuse to seek or maintain prescribed medical treatments. An individual who purposely risks the lives of others by failing to address health issues may be held accountable in a liability lawsuit.
If a negligent party dies, a liability or wrongful death complaint may be filed against an individual’s estate. The unnamed family members hurt in the Delavan collision may be able to file a civil suit to recover medical expenses.
Source: examiner.com, “Walworth County man dies in head-on collision,” Dustin Alexander, Sept. 21, 2012
