TOULON, Illinois — Authorities have identified the teen who was killed in a two vehicle collision between a truck hauling fertilizer and a car near Toulon on Monday, March 27 as 16-year-old Bradon H. Ely of rural West Jersey.
According to police, Ely was the driver and only occupant of the car. Ely’s car collided with a semi-truck driven by Craig Betcher at the intersection of Route 17 and Route 78 just before 3:30 p.m. on Monday. Betcher sustained minor injuries and was treated and released from a local hospital.
Both Ely’s car and the semi ended up in ditches along Route 78, the car on the east side and the truck on the west, according to police.
A hazardous materials team was called to the scene to help clean up approximately 25 tons of fertilizer that spilled from the truck and mixed with diesel fuel from the accident. The sheriff’s department closed a half-mile stretch of the highway while the haz-mat team cleaned up the spill. The road was re-opened around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 28. The recovered material from the spill was transported to an EPA-approved disposal site.