State Police ID victims airlifted from Illinois 159 crash near Smithton
Illinois State Police are investigating why a pickup driver on Illinois 159 crossed the center line and collided with the passenger side of another pickup truck in a crash that seriously injured both motorists last Thursday.
Zlatko Kireta, 47, of Smithton, and Luke P. Marcrum, 21, of Belleville, were both airlifted to St. Louis area hospitals after the crash, according to an ISP news release.
Their medical conditions were not available Monday, but police said both had serious injuries. The hospitals to which they were taken were not disclosed.
Kireta was driving a 2012 Dodge Ram pickup truck north on Illinois 159 at Schiermeier Road and Marcrum was driving south in a 2000 Dodge Dakota pickup truck at the time of the crash, police said.
“For an unknown reason, the Ram crossed the center line and struck the passenger side of the Dakota with the passenger side” of the Ram, the news release stated.
The Illinois State Police crash reconstruction unit is investigating the crash.
No other information about the crash was available, police said.
The crash caused Illinois 159 between Smithton and Belleville to be closed for over four hours.
This story was originally published July 29, 2019 at 3:33 PM.
