A 56-year-old grandmother injured in a Feb. 4 crash near Pawnee that killed her grandson remains in fair condition at Memorial Medical Center, but is unable to answer questions about the accident, a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy said.
Meanwhile, a Sangamon County coroner’s jury Wednesday ruled the death of 12-year-old James B. Brooks of Pawnee an accident.
Brooks died of head injuries when the car driven by his grandmother, Linda Butler of rural Pawnee, struck the back of a grain wagon attached to a John Deere tractor that had stopped on New City Road near Pawnee.
Deputy Mike Long testified that Butler’s 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible was lodged underneath the grain wagon and that the drawbar penetrated the windshield and struck Brooks, who was a front-seat passenger, in the forehead.
The crash occurred at 6:57 p.m. in the 5400 block of New City Road, which runs east and west.
Long said Butler was driving 66 mph on the two-lane rural road, but the resulting injuries would have been the same even at a lower speed.
Long said the tractor hauling the grain truck was driven by Cameron Ayers, 17, of Rochester, who was ticketed for not having an amber warning light on the back of the wagon. Long said the tractor taillights couldn’t be seen because of the wagon.
Ayers’ mother initially was following the wagon, but had pulled around it, turned around and was parked alongside the tractor pointed west when the crash occurred.
Long said Ayers’ mother said she was flashing her lights to alert the oncoming car of the parked tractor and wagon. The grain wagon did have a reflective sign warning of a slow-moving vehicle, he said.
Long said the tractor was stopped on the side of the road, but was partially in the roadway.
“It was very difficult to see the wagon,” Long said. Weather conditions were clear and cold, the deputy said.
Brooks was a student at Pawnee Junior High School.
Chris Dettro can be reached at 788-1510.
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Jimmy why did it have to be you a classmate of mine. I didn’t know you that well and now i wish i would’ve know you better but i was one of the luckiest people on the planet to have know you. I’m so sorry that people were mean to you and i remeber that joke you told me it was the last thing you said to me and it made me laugh i told all of my friends and they laughed too. I remeber when we were in p.e. you were on my volleyball team and wow you had a good underhand serve even though you couldn’t pass very well but i was so glad you were on ym team. I also remeber in grammer class when you and miss. D. walked together to the mall holding hand. I just wanted to say what happened to you was wrong and horrible and i would do anything in the world to have you back and to have things the way there suposed to be. I will always love and miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!