Driver of SUV charged with reckless homicide, DUI in crash that killed two in Campton Township
An 18-year-old Elgin man has been charged in connection with a crash involving a school bus on Halloween in Campton Township that killed two siblings who were riding in his SUV and severely injured a third passenger, officials said.
No one in the school bus was injured in the crash.
Tyler A. Schmidt, of the 43W000 block of Southgate Road, is accused of being under the influence of marijuana and speeding in an SUV in an unincorporated area of Campton Township around 3:45 p.m. Oct. 31, according to a press release from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Schmidt’s vehicle allegedly hit the back of a stopped school bus from Burlington Central School District 301 near Empire Road and Kingswood Drive, officials said.
Two passengers in Schmidt’s SUV - Grace Diewald, 20, and her brother Emil Diewald, 19, of Campton Township - were killed in the crash, officials said. Both were graduates of Central Community Unit School District 301.
Another passenger in the SUV, a 17-year-old woman from South Elgin, was taken to Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva with life-threatening injuries and was later airlifted to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, police said.
Schmidt was charged with multiple felonies in connection with the crash and was indicted on Dec. 21 by a grand jury. He was charged with aggravated driving under the influence of drugs, reckless homicide, aggravated DUI and aggravated reckless driving, court records show.
Schmidt’s bail was set at $100,000 and he was released from custody on electronic home monitoring. While on home monitoring, he is not to drive without a valid license, must submit random drug and alcohol testing and can only leave home to go to work, and attend medical, counseling or attorney appointments.
He is due back in court on Jan. 6.
The Kane County Sheriff’s Office and the Kane County Accident Reconstruction Team conducted the investigation of the crash.
