PEORIA — A Chillicothe man fled the scene of a fatal car crash last weekend because he was afraid of the other driver, who he said had flipped him off and “brake checked” him.
Benjamin Thrush, 35, was arrested Wednesday, just days after the Saturday evening crash that resulted in the death of 19-year-old Jacob T. Fishel, also of Chillicothe. Fishel, who died from head injuries, was found lying in a southbound lane of Illinois Route 6 after being ejected from his 2005 Pontiac Bonneville shortly after 7:30 p.m.
Police had been looking for a Chevrolet pickup that they thought was involved in the accident. Using video surveillance footage from the Burger King restaurant on Allen Road near Route 6 and the nearby Shell gas station, officers were able to get a license plate of a 2011 Silverado that belonged to Thrush’s mother.
His mother told police Thrush had been driving the vehicle that night, which prompted officers to go to Thrush’s job, Midwest Material Co.’s gravel pit in Lacon. He agreed to go back to the Peoria police station for questioning. He told police he had been driving north on Route 6 when a man in a white car, presumably Fishel, flipped him off and sped past him. Thrush said Fishel then brake-checked him, or pulled in front of him and then suddenly slowed down.
Thrush said he tried to get off Route 6 at the Knoxville Avenue exit, but Fishel tried to come up alongside his truck. Thrush was afraid and tried to move to the right side of the roadway, he told police, at which time Fishel’s car spun out of control in the grassy median and crashed. Thrush kept driving because he was scared, he said.
When he got to the bottom of the Route 6 hill, Thrush told police, he thought about going back but didn’t when he saw a police car speed up the hill.
According to the report, Thrush said he didn’t know how bad the accident was as he didn’t read the paper or watch the news. When officers told him Fishel had died, Thrush reportedly started crying. Thrush had told police he didn’t know the two cars collided. But according to the police report, officers found white paint on the truck’s driver’s side front wheel well and also on another panel.
State’s Attorney Jerry Brady said Thursday his office is reviewing the matter and considering what charges are appropriate.
Thrush, who had been held in the Peoria County Jail on Wednesday night, has been released.