Victim Identified: Deadly February crash in McLean County

McLean County (25 News Now) - The Illinois State Police has identified the man who died in a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 55 earlier this week.

State Police identified the man as 25-year-old Cory Geist of Tucson, Arizona.

It was just before 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday when Geist’s box truck collided with a truck-tractor semi-trailer on I-55 southbound near LaGrange Road, or mile post 146 near McLean. Illinois State Police say the semi driver was taken to the hospital. That crash closed the southbound lanes of I-55 for nearly five hours for the investigation and cleanup.

As of Wednesday morning, ISP’s investigation has identified the semi driver as 39-year-old Issa Mohomed who was with 64-year-old Abdalla Nerja in the passenger seat. Both of them are reportedly uninjured and from Salt Lake City, Utah.

In its preliminary information report, ISP Troop 5 claims Mohomed pulled off onto the shoulder on I-55 between mile post 146 and 147 because he thought he had a faulty headlight. After checking the truck tractor, Mohomed pulled back onto I-55 without gaining speed on the shoulder. Around the same time, Geist was traveling in the same direction.

Geist drove into the rear of the next car and died at scene.

Mohomed has been charged with violating minimum speed regulations, failure to yield to merging traffic and improper lane usage.