LENA — On Saturday June 24, at approximately 11:51 p.m., Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office personnel responded to the area of Flansburg Road and Range Road in rural Lena for a report of a personal injury traffic crash involving a single motorcycle.  Upon arrival, a crew from Leamon’s Ambulance Service was already on-scene attending to a 19-year-old male who was eventually transported to FHN Memorial Hospital in Freeport before being transferred to a larger area hospital. 

Preliminary investigation revealed that a 2015 Harley-Davidson motorcycle was traveling north on Flansburg Road north of Range Road when it left the roadway and went into a ditch. After entering the ditch, the operator of the motorcycle, a 19-year-old Lena man, whose name was withheld by press time on June 26, was ejected from the motorcycle and found in a nearby cornfield.

There were no witnesses to the crash, and at this time it is believed to have occurred on between approximately 10 p.m. and 11:27 p.m. that same evening.

The 19-year-old operator of the motorcycle remains hospitalized and is currently in critical condition. The cause of the traffic crash is still under investigation; however, driving while impaired is believed to be a contributing factor. 

Any criminal charges related to the incident would follow a review of the completed investigation by the Stephenson County State’s Attorney’s Office.