Marianne Akers, Chatham, Illinois crash driver that killed four girls after crashing school building had seizure says lawyer in ‘freak occurrence,’ following medical emergency as investigators continue to deliberate whether charges are to be filed.
The lawyer of the Illinois woman who drove through an after-school camp building in Chatham, killing four girls and injuring six others, says she experienced a seizure and has no memory of the incident.
Speaking with WICS, lawyer W. Scott Hanken said Marianne Akers, 44, left work at 3 p.m. local time on Monday, April 28, when she experienced a medical emergency while driving her Jeep Wrangler in Chatham.
Seizure rendered Chatham driver utterly incapacitated
‘She was westbound on Walnut when at 3:20, she suffered what has now been diagnosed and confirmed as a seizure of some type of degree,’ Hanken told the outlet. ‘It rendered her completely and utterly incapacitated at the time and as a result of that seizure, she has no recollection of what occurred.’
The crash occurred after Akers’ Jeep ‘left the road for unknown reasons, traveled through a field and into the east side’ of the YNOT (Youth Needing Other Things) Outdoors Summer Camp in Chatham, police said.
The vehicle traveled through the building, striking numerous individuals before crashing through the other side, police added.
Killed in the crash were Rylee Britton, 18, of Springfield; Ainsley Johnson, 8, of Chatham; Alma Buhnerkempe, 7, of Chatham and Kathryn Corley, 7, of Chatham.
Akers, who has not been charged with a crime, is devastated, Hanken told the outlet. The woman’s lawyer described the tragic accident as a ‘freak occurrence.’
‘No one contemplated this happening. She surely didn’t,’ Hanken told the outlet. ‘It was a perfect storm of events that you know if she could go back in time and change [it] she would, just like anyone else.’
Medical emergency yields negative toxicology report
He said that Akers had no history of seizures or any symptoms to indicate a medical issue before the crash. The woman was not on medication that would have affected her ability to drive, WICS reported. She has cooperated fully with law enforcement, Hanken said.
The lawyer’s insight is in line with what Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said during a news conference on Thursday, May 1.
Immediately following the crash, Akers was taken to the hospital, where she provided blood and urine samples, and then was released, Kelly said. Initial toxicology results show Aken having tested negative for alcohol or controlled substances, including benzodiazepines, amphetamines, cocaine, opiates, cannabinoids and phencyclidine (PCP).
‘Some evidence has been developed indicating the possibility of a medical emergency leading up to the crash, however, this investigation of this information and other evidence has not yet concluded and will continue,’ he said of the investigation, which is ongoing. ‘
‘All evidence will be submitted to the Sangamon County State’s Attorney for a determination of what charges, if any, are appropriate under the law,’ Kelly said.
Illinois State Police have continued to maintain Monday’s incident was not a deliberate attack.
A previous report on scallywagandvagabond.com cited a source who had been at the hospital when Akers was brought following Monday’s tragedy going on to suffer a second seizure along with her being unaware at the time she had moments earlier had just killed four young girls.
Akers, a former ISP (Illinois State Police) employee has since faced criticism that she continues to draw favorable treatment from investigators amid what some have decried as a cover up.
