SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The driver of a car that barreled through a building used for a popular after-school camp in central Illinois, killing three children and a teenager, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and may have had a medical emergency, police said Thursday.
No decisions have been made on whether to file charges against the 44-year-old driver, said Illinois State Police Director Brendan F. Kelly at a news conference. The driver, who was not injured, is not in custody, Kelly said.
Evidence that she may have had a medical emergency was “not conclusive” and the investigation is ongoing, Kelly said.
The car went off the road Monday, crossing a field and smashing into the side of the building in Chatham used by Youth Needing Other Things Outdoors, also known as YNOT. It traveled through the building, striking people before exiting the other side. Six other children were hospitalized. Kelly said some of them have been released but he did not provide more detail, saying their families have asked for privacy.
Security camera footage showed the vehicle was “a substantial distance” away when it left the roadway, said Jamie Loftus, founder of YNOT Outdoors. After speeding across a field, it crossed a road, the sidewalk and YNOT’s parking lot before crashing through the building “with no apparent attempt to alter its direction,” Loftus said earlier this week. The vehicle then crossed a gravel road and crashed into a pole and fence.
Chatham is a community of about 15,000 people outside of the Illinois capital of Springfield.
Those killed were Rylee Britton, 18, of Springfield, Ainsley Johnson, 8, Kathryn Corley, 7, and Alma Buhnerkempe, 7. All of the children were from Chatham.