EDITOR’S NOTE — Mental health support is available to SIU students through Counseling and Psychological Services at 618-453-5371. An after-hours support line is available at 1-833-434-1217.
This story was updated to provide additional information on the crash
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SIU freshman Lyric Irby died in an auto accident late on Oct 20. According to an email sent out by Chancellor Austin Lane, Irbywas a student in The School of Business and Analytics. She was an accounting major.
According to a press release from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, the accident was a multi-car incident that occured in rural Vergennes on Illinois 13/127. Irby was one of three southbound drivers. She collided with a northbound vehicle in an attempt to pass the other southbound vehicles. The engine of her vehicle caught fire shortly after.
The two other southbound drivers, Jerry Ward, 66, from Murphysboro and Trevor Turnbul, 18, from Rochester, got into a minor collision. Other drivers broke Irby’s window and pulled her out of the car.
Irby was pronounced dead at the scene. The northbound driver was 71-year-old James Summers from St. Charles, MO. Summers was taken out of his vehicle and placed in a nearby hospital.
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18-year-old Irby is the fourth SIU student to die this semester, the second to die in an auto accident.
Reporter Mylee Walker can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Instagram @myleewalkerwrites. To stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, be sure to follow The Daily Egyptian on Facebook and on X @dailyegyptian.
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