2 teens injured in dirt bike, ATV accident in Maple Park

Eric Horng Image
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Off-road accident leaves 2 teens with head injuries
An accident left two teenagers with head injuries when one of the boys on a motorized dirt bike was rear-ended by another boy on an ATV.

MAPLE PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- An accident left two teenagers with head injuries when one of the boys on a motorized dirt bike was rear-ended by another boy on an ATV.

Both victims are 15 years old. Officials say the boy being treated at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove suffered multiple broken bones. The other teen is in surgery Tuesday night at a hospital in Rockford.

"Not normally something you see every day, and unfortunately this is how it turns out," said Maple Park resident Mike Schmuldt.

Schmuldt and his two sons say moments before the crash they saw three boys, two on motorized dirt bikes and another on a 4-wheel ATV, ride past their house in Maple Park at a high rate of speed.

"They were pretty wound up, wound up pretty tight," Schmuldt said.

"I saw a fire chief coming down with some fire trucks and an ambulance and then some helicopters," Danny Schmuldt said.

The Kane County Sheriff's Department said the three boys are all in their mid-teens. The crash occurred when a boy on one of the motorbikes apparently stopped for an unknown reason and was rear-ended by the ATV. The two teens involved in the collision suffered head injuries, and it appears neither was wearing a helmet.

"The dust can fly up and just cover the whole road, and you can't see anything," said resident Daniel Skirmont.

Skirmont said he knows these dirt roads well.

"They can be very slippery if you have bald tires or something, and you can just lose it and spin out and fall," he said.

The third rider was not injured; the other two were airlifted to area hospitals.

"It was a little scary and sad," Danny Schmuldt said.

Officials have not revealed their exact conditions or offered details on the severity of their head injuries.