Joliet Woman Hit by Truck Dies at Aurora Hospital

A 33-year-old Joliet woman died over the weekend, two days after being injured in a crash with a semitrailer on the city's east side.

Erin Buck, of the 4300 block of Odonahue Drive, was pronounced dead at 2 p.m. Aug. 13 at Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora, according to an Aurora Police Department news release. She was injured on Aug. 11 in an accident near Heggs Road and Route 30.

Police say Buck was heading westbound in her 2011 Hyundai Elantra on Heggs around 4:50 p.m. that evening when she pulled in front of a Freightliner semitrailer that was northbound on Route 30. Witnesses said she was previously stopped at a stop sign near that intersection, where she was "inching" out into the intersecting roadway.

The truck driver — a 58-year-old New Jersey man — reportedly tried to avoid colliding with Buck's vehicle.

"The driver of the semi hit his brakes and swerved in an attempt to avoid hitting her but ended up T-boning the Elantra on the driver’s side," police said in a Monday update on the crash.

Aurora Fire Department personnel extricated Buck from her vehicle, after which she was taken to Rush Copley.

The truck driver was not injured, and the Aurora Police Traffic Division and Illinois State Police are handling the investigation.