MONTGOMERY COUNTY, IL. (THECOUNT) — Jackolyn Protz and William Protz, of Sullivan, Illinois, have been named as the victims in a quadruple-fatal crash in Montgomery County on Saturday, according to local reports.
Jackolyn “Jackie” Protz and her husband, William “Bill” Protz, were both killed along with two young women in a horror head-on crash near Coffeen after 6:20 p.m. on Saturday evening. The other driver, a 17-year-old male, was critically injured in the violent wreck.
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According to officials, a Ford F-150 operated by the 17-year-old driver was traveling on Illinois 185 near Coffeen, when for unknown reasons, the pickup crossed centerlines and into opposing lanes.
According to Illinois State Police, the truck then collided head-on with the Protz’s Toyota Sienna that was traveling in the opposite direction.
All four people inside the Toyota were killed in the crash. Two of the dead included a pair of teenage girls who were from Vandalia. Their names have not been released.
The 17-year-old boy who was in the F-150 suffered life-threatening injuries, police said. He was airlifted from the scene to a local trauma center, reports KSDK.
No other information on the crash has been released at this time.
An investigation into the cause of the tragic wreck remains open and active.
Jackie and her family members were featured in a 2006 article about Jr. Dragster Racing, whom her granddaughter, Brandy was participating:
Via HeraldReview 2006:
She (Jackie,) does penance as a chaplain for a nondenominational Christian group called “Racers for Christ.” I think ‘Wow, I have introduced my son, my daughter-in-law and now my granddaughter to a sport that, well, I hate to call it dangerous, but you do have to be very safety-minded,” says Jackolyn Protz. “The older I get, the more I think about that.”
She does penance as a chaplain for a nondenominational Christian group called Racers for Christ, which preaches safety along with salvation. Jackolyn Protz, who can remember traffic light drags from her misspent youth, says organized racing does a major public service as the right and proper outlet for the need for speed. Driving her stock Dodge Neon on the street, she finds herself getting annoyed when some frustrated racer peels away at the lights.
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Geo quick facts: Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 30,104. Its county seat is Hillsboro. Sullivan is a city in Moultrie County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,440 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat and largest city of Moultrie County. Sullivan is named after Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, where Fort Moultrie is located – Wikipedia.