Medical Emergency Results in Fatal Crash Near Edgewood

(THE SLUIS VEHICLE WHERE IT CAME TO REST BELOW THE INTERSTATE ON IOWA STREET AT EDGEWOOD WEDNESDAY)

A medical emergency resulted in a fatal crash near Edgewood Wednesday morning.

Dead is 71-year-old Richard L. Sluis of Milaca, Minnesota. Effingham County Coroner Kim Rhodes reported Illinois State Police responded to a single-vehicle crash involving Sluis at 9:40am at Milepost 145 at the Edgewood interchange. State police at the scene reported Sluis as unresponsive and he was transported to HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham.

Hospital officials notified the Coroner's Office at 10:36am that Sluis had died in the emergency room.

A preliminary investigation revealed Sluis was traveling northbound when he suffered a medical emergency that caused him to run off the roadway. Sluis' vehicle continued northbound through the median, went airborne and traveled between the concrete bridge supports, then landed on the county road below the interstate. The vehicle stopped when it hit the guard rail on Iowa Street at Edgewood.

Sluis' family advised the Coroner's Office that he had been in Florida and Kentucky recently and was on his way to northern Illinois to visit his brother at the time of the crash. They also provided medical information on Sluis. Medical records were requested and toxicology samples were taken by the Coroner's Office. An investigation is continuing by the Coroner's Office and the Illinois State Police. Also assisting at the scene of the crash were Abbott EMS, Effingham County Sheriff's Department, and Illinois Department of Natural Resources Police.