Dump truck driver went 76 in a 30-mph zone, prosecutors say. The outcome was deadly

Caleb Rallings’ behavior seemed strange to community service workers the morning of the deadly crash in suburban Chicago, Illinois prosecutors said Thursday, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The workers told police that the seasonal Cook County Forest Preserve employee was “acting out of it” and had taken his food apart, said Assistant State’s Attorney Katherine Bird, the Tribune reported.

The 20-year-old man was responsible for driving the crew from a work site, the Arlington Cardinal reported. When he got behind the wheel of a county-owned maintenance dump truck, he reportedly drove erratically and “at a rate of speed that caused the wheels to squeal” on June 30, Bird said, reported the Chicago Daily Herald.

Bird says Rallings hit up to 81 mph and was asked to slow down. He ended up doing 76 mph in a 30-mph zone, authorities allege, the Tribune reported.

Rallings was going that speed when he veered into the opposite lane of traffic and smashed into a line of five cars that were stopped at a traffic light, police said, reported Journal & Topics and the Herald. The crash killed the driver of a 2013 Chevrolet Equinox, 44-year-old Giuseppe Gazzano, and injured 12 people, including Rallings, the Cardinal reported.

A witness at the scene blamed Rallings for the crash, the Herald reported. Police had to use a stun gun on him before taking him into custody, the newspaper said.

Rallings was charged with reckless homicide and driving under the influence, Journal & Topics reported. Prosecutors say THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — was found in his blood after the crash, the Tribune reported.