(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Authorities in Lake County say criminal charges are possible after friends of an ATV operator apparently tried to cover up an accident that left the man with fatal injuries.
Lake County deputies responded early Tuesday in incorporated Spring Grove near North Lake Shore Drive and Greenwood Avenue for a report of a person down. There, they found 56-year-old Glenn Luthardt unconscious and unresponsive, officials said.
The injured man later died at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital.
A later investigation revealed that Luthardt was drinking at a bar, where he tripped and injured his face before leaving the establishment on an ATV, or all-terrain vehicle.
A witness saw Luthardt accelerating at a high rate of speed. He lost control and was thrown from the ATV, which landed on top of him, the Lake County Sheriff’s Department said.
Officials say an acquaintance who followed Luthardt before the accident removed the ATV from his body and called friends for help.
“Knowing Luthardt was likely under the influence of alcohol and driving with a revoked driver’s license, the acquaintances removed Luthardt’s ATV from the scene, so there was no evidence he was driving,” sheriff’s police said in a news release.
Detectives later found the ATV about a half-mile away, officials said.
An investigation continues, and criminal charges are possible, the sheriff’s department said.
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