Man Who Pleaded Guilty In Jan. 6 Case Now Charged With Murder After Illinois Fatal Crash

SANGAMON COUNTY, IL — An Illinois man who pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer and a news photographer during the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol is now charged in connection with a fatal crash in the Springfield area, according to authorities.

Shane J. Woods, 44, of Auburn, is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated driving under the influence involving death, two counts of aggravated driving under the influence, and aggravated fleeing and eluding a peace officer, court documents said.

The crash occurred shortly after 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8, according to police. Woods had been pulled over by an officer along Interstate 55 in Divernon, but fled, traveling northbound against southbound traffic, authorities said.

Woods’ 2018 GMC Sierra struck a 2008 Mercury Sable and a 2017 Toyota Corolla near Exit 88 and overturned, according to police, who said a semitrailer drove through the crash scene and was damaged by debris. Lauren Wegner, 35, was killed, authorities said. While the Sangamon County Coroner's office said Wegner was from North Carolina, the Associated Press and Wegner's obituary list her as a Skokie resident.

A 54-year-old woman from Granite City who was a passenger in the Toyota suffered a concussion, brain bleeding, a broken spine and facial lacerations requiring stitches, according to officials. The Toyota’s driver, a 61-year-old man from Granite City, suffered broken bones, severe bruising and lacerations, authorities said.

Woods also suffered injuries that were not life-threatening, according to police. His blood alcohol concentration after the collision of 0.177, more than twice the legal limit, court documents said.

Before the crash, Woods told the officer who stopped him that he was “worth more dead than alive,” and afterward, Woods was heard by a state trooper saying that he “intended on crashing his vehicle into a truck tractor semi-trailer,” according to court documents.

Woods was booked Friday into Sangamon County Jail and has since been denied bail on the grounds that he is a threat to himself and others, court records said.

He pleaded guilty in September to charges related to allegations that he rammed into a police officer the afternoon of Jan. 6 as she was chasing someone who sprayed her with a chemical agent and that he later took a running start to knock a news photographer off his feet, according to previous reports. He is scheduled to be sentenced in the federal case Jan. 13.

His next court date for the charges related to the Sangamon County crash is Nov. 28. An attempt to reach Woods' attorney for comment was unsuccessful.