Hector Santiago-Cardona dies in fatal Urbana car crash
Fatal Urbana car crash death of Hector Santiago-Cardona
A significant road closure occurred Wednesday evening in Urbana following a serious accident. Cunningham Avenue, specifically a 2-mile stretch of northbound traffic, was shut down for approximately two and a half hours because of the incident near the eastbound I-74 on-ramp.
Champaign County Coroner Laurie Brauer officially identified the deceased person as Hector Santiago-Cardona, who was 35 years old and lived in Champaign. Medical personnel pronounced him dead at Carle Foundation Hospital at 7:57 p.m. on Wednesday.
Urbana police and emergency services were dispatched to the scene of the crash around 7:20 p.m. It involved two motorcyclists and a semi-truck. A preliminary investigation by the police indicates that the semi-truck driver, Hugo Bautista-Perez, aged 37, attempted a left turn but did not give way to oncoming traffic.
This maneuver resulted in a collision with the two motorcycles going north on Cunningham Avenue. One motorcyclist died at the hospital, while the other suffered only minor injuries and was treated before leaving the medical facility.
Bautista-Perez received a citation for failing to yield the right-of-way while making his left turn. The Illinois State Police Accident Reconstruction Team provided support for the ongoing investigation during the time northbound Cunningham Avenue remained closed.
Urbana police confirmed that the case is still being looked into and urge anyone with extra information about the incident to contact them at 217-384-2320.
Those wishing to provide information anonymously can reach out to the Crime Stoppers program. Options include calling 217-373-TIPS (217-373-8477), visiting the website 373tips.com, or using the “P3 Tips” mobile application.
Community members are informed that Crime Stoppers ensures complete anonymity for callers. Tips are sent to a third-party national call center that forwards them to the relevant law enforcement, and caller identification tracking is not used. Conversations are not recorded.
